news/GOOG/2023.02.13/Wall Street ends sharply higher as investors eye inflation data.txt

(Updates following end of session with price moves)*Meta climbs after report of more layoffs*Fidelity National slumps on payments business spinoff*Tech-related heavyweights drive S&P 500 gains*Indexes rally: S&P 500 +1.15%, Nasdaq +1.48%, Dow +1.11%Feb 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed sharply higher on
Monday as investors awaited inflation data likely to hint at the
path of the Federal Reserve's future interest rate hikes, while
Meta Platforms gained after a report that the Facebook parent
was planning fresh layoffs.Meta jumped about 3% after the Financial Times
reported on Sunday that the company was preparing to announce a
new round of job cuts, adding to layoffs last November.Microsoft rose more than 3%, Nvidia
gained 2.5%, and Apple and Amazon each rose
over 1%. Along with Meta, those tech-related heavyweights
contributed more than any other stocks to the S&P 500's gains
during a trading session that saw light volume.Helping lift Microsoft, Stifel raised its price target on
the software company and said it is clearly looking to upend
Alphabet's Google search dominance through its integration with
ChatGPT.Investors are laser-focused on January inflation data due
on Tuesday to reassess their bets on the central bank's monetary
policy path.Wall Street's main indexes lost ground last week after
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that interest rates
may need to move higher than expected in the central bank's
battle against inflation."Today is just a natural reaction in the opposite direction
after we've seen very heavy selling pressure," said Keith
Buchanan, portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta.Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by
information technology, up 1.77%, followed by a 1.46%
gain in consumer discretionary. The energy index
dipped 0.6%.The S&P 500 climbed 1.15% to end the session at 4,137.32
points.The Nasdaq gained 1.48% to 11,891.79 points, while the
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.11% to 34,246.13 points.However, volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light,
with 9.5 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.9
billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.So far in this year, the S&P 500 has gained about 8%, and
the index remains down about 14% from its record high close in
January 2022.Fidelity National Information Services Inc plunged
12.5% following the banking and payments processing
conglomerate's decision to spin off its merchant payments
business.Coca-Cola rose 1.6% ahead of its quarterly report due
out early on Tuesday.As U.S. quarterly earnings reports wind down, 69% of the S&P
500 firms that have reported results so far have exceeded profit
expectations, according to Refinitiv data. Analysts expect
December-quarter earnings to have fallen nearly 3% from a year
earlier.Across the U.S. stock market, advancing stocks
outnumbered falling ones by a 2.5-to-one ratio.The S&P 500 posted four new highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and 59 new lows.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju
Samuel, Sriraj Kalluvila, Shinjini Ganguli and Deepa Babington)