Financial Markets                      05/06 15:55

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks rose Monday and added to their gains from last 
week, as technology companies once again led the way.

   The S&P 500 rose 52.95, or 1%, to 5,180.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
added 176.59, or 0.5%, to 38,852.27, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 192.92, or 
1.2%, to 16,349.25.

   Tech stocks were at the forefront, with familiar ringleaders Nvidia and 
Super Micro Computer again pulling the market higher. They've had a couple 
hiccups recently, but a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has 
Nvidia up 86.1% for the year so far after Monday's 3.8% gain. Super Micro is up 
192.1% after its gain of 6.1%.

   Vistra, an electricity and power generation company, rose 2.1% after 
investors learned it will join the widely tracked S&P 500 index on Wednesday. 
Freshpet jumped 10.4% after reporting better results than expected in large 
part because it sold 30% more food for cats and dogs, and Berkshire Hathaway 
added 1% after Warren Buffett's company reported its latest quarterly results 
over the weekend.

   They helped to offset a 9.7% slide for Spirit Airlines, which reported a 
slightly worse loss than expected. The carrier said it's facing increased 
competition in many of its markets, particularly between the United States and 
Latin America.

   Apple slipped 0.9% after Berkshire Hathaway revealed it had pared its stake 
in the tech giant.

   The U.S. stock market has been swinging sharply since setting a record at 
the end of March. It sunk for weeks on fears that stubbornly high inflation 
would prevent or at least delay the Federal Reserve from delivering the cuts to 
interest rates that Wall Street craves.

   But markets found a burst of optimism at the end of last week following a 
cooler-than-expected jobs report. It suggested the U.S. economy could nail the 
tightrope walk of staying strong enough to avoid a bad recession, but not so 
firm that it puts too much upward pressure on inflation.

   Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle said he still expects two cuts to 
rates this year, in July and November, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell "pushed 
back strongly against the possibility of further rate hikes" at his press 
conference last week.

   This upcoming week won't include such highly anticipated events as last 
week's Fed meeting or monthly jobs report. The bulk of companies in the S&P 500 
have also already reported their results for the first three months of the 
year, with more than three-quarters of them topping profit expectations, 
according to FactSet.

   But several more big names are still on the way this week, including The 
Walt Disney Co. and Uber Technologies.

   In the bond market, which has been dictating much of the action in the stock 
market recently, Treasury yields held mostly steady.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.49%, from 4.50% late 
Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for 
the Fed, was also relatively little changed.

   Traders are betting on a nearly 89% chance that the Fed will cut its main 
interest rate at least once before the end of the year, according to data from 
CME Group. That's up from from an 81.6% probability seen a week earlier. Lower 
rates would help ease the pressure on the economy and financial system.

   In stock markets abroad, several exchanges were closed for holidays. Indexes 
rose relatively modestly in France and Hong Kong. They jumped 1% in Germany and 
1.2% in Shanghai.

   Corporate profit reports have been better than expected not just in the 
United States but also in Europe and Japan, according to strategists at 
Deutsche Bank. Global earnings growth is on track for a second straight quarter 
of growth following four consecutive declines.

   ___

   AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.

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