Stocks rally ahead of inflation report

NEW YORK — Wall Street rose Monday as traders made their final moves ahead of a report that could show whether inflation is cooling in the right way or setting the market up for worse pain.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% in anticipation of Tuesday’s report on inflation at the consumer level across the country. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 376.66 points, or 1.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%.

Stocks were coming off their worst week in nearly two months, the latest stumble for a market that has struggled for more than a year on worries about high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s response to it. The Fed has aggressively hiked rates to their highest level since 2007 to drive down the worst inflation in generations.

Economists expect Tuesday’s report to show inflation slowed to 6.2% in January. That would be down from 6.5% a month before and from a peak of more than 9% in the summer.

Perhaps more important than the overall number is what the data shows specifically about prices for services outside of housing, such as haircuts or airfares. Inflation has remained stubbornly high there.

Worse-than-expected trends on inflation would raise worries that the Federal Reserve will stay firmer on rates than expected, which could mean more pain for Wall Street. Cooler-than-expected figures, meanwhile, could fan anew hopes that were rising earlier this year for the Fed to take it easier on rates.

Everyone agrees that inflation is heading in the right direction. The question is how quickly and steadily it will come down to the Fed’s target of 2%, and what that means for when the Fed will pause its hikes to rates and eventually begin cutting them.