Stocks Rise Despite Weak Report on Retail Sales

US stocks climbed again Monday following weeks of scary swings.

• The S&P 500 rose 36.18 points, or 0.6%, to 5,675.12 , notching a second straight gain after falling 10% below its recent record last week.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 353.44 points, or 0.9%, to 41,841.63.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 54.58 points, or 0.3%, to 17,808.66.

More big swings could be ahead, with a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates coming later in the week and worries continuing about President Trump's trade war, the AP reports.

On Wall Street, Intel climbed 6.8% to extend its gains after the chip company named former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO last week. PepsiCo added 1.8% after saying it agreed to buy Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand, for a net $1.65 billion. They helped offset a 4.8% drop for Tesla. The electric-vehicle company's stock has been struggling this year amid worries that its brand has become too intertwined with Elon Musk. Tesla vehicles and dealerships have become targets of people unhappy with Trump and his policies.

A report on US retail sales was weaker than expected but may not have been as bad as it seemed on the surface. The report said retailers broadly saw weaker revenue last month than economists expected, but much of the shortfall in growth versus expectations was due to weaker-than-forecast sales of automobiles and lower fuel costs. Outside of them, the performance was closer to expectations. "In our view, this morning's February retail sales report offers evidence of a limited, modest economic slowdown, rather than signaling a gathering recession," said Jennifer Timmerman, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will announce the Fed's latest decision on interest rates on Wednesday. Virtually no one expects the Fed to make a move Wednesday. The central bank has been keeping rates steady so far this year, preferring to see how conditions play out. Earlier, heading into the end of last year, it had been cutting rates sharply in hopes of relaxing pressure on the US economy after high inflation had slowed. Wall Street's focus will be on what Powell says about the rest of the year. Expectations are still high the Fed may cut its main interest rate at least two or three times in 2025.

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