Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 inched up in choppy trading on Monday as markets cemented bets on an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve and awaited Nvidia results later in the week, while energy stocks were boosted after crude oil prices jumped.
The blue-chip index led gains among peers and hit an intraday record high as markets welcomed U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday, when he said "the time has come" to lower borrowing costs in the light of diminishing upside risk to inflation and moderating labor demand.
The main indexes rallied more than 1% in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), also nearing record highs. Rate-sensitive small caps (.RUT), logged their strongest day in six week as equities continued to pare losses from the market rout in early August.
Odds of a 25-basis-point rate cut stand at 69.5%, while those of a 50-bps cut are at 30.5%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"The name of the game is the Fed. They did what the markets anticipated, so that's good news that they're going to start the easing cycle," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.
Attention will turn to the gross domestic product estimates for the second quarter and July's Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, due later in the week.
At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), was up 171.49 points, or 0.42%, at 41,346.57, the S&P 500 (.SPX), was up 6.01 points, or 0.11%, at 5,640.62, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), was down 36.60 points, or 0.20%, at 17,841.20.
A majority of the S&P 500 sectors advanced, led by a 1.7% rise in Energy (.SPNY), stocks, which hit a one-week high as crude prices jumped nearly 3%. Reports of production stoppages in Libya piled on to fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East as the geopolitical conflict continued.
As earnings season draws to a close, chip designer and AI-favorite Nvidia (NVDA.O), whose results are scheduled on Wednesday, traded up 0.4%.
Markets have been less forgiving this quarter of highly valued megacap stocks, which spearheaded the excitement around artificial intelligence.
They will scrutinize Nvidia's earnings to justify the stock's more than 160% year-to-date jump, which pushed its market cap value to No. 2, just below that of Apple (AAPL.O), as of Friday's close.
"The two concerns and risks are going to be their (Nvidia's) gross margins... and their guidance," Hayes said.
Results from Dell (DELL.N), Salesforce (CRM.N), Dollar General (DG.N), and Gap (GAP.N), are expected through the week.
Limiting gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, U.S.-listed shares of PDD Holdings (PDD.O), sank 26.8% after the Temu-owner missed market expectations for second-quarter revenue.
Boeing (BA.N), slipped 0.40% after NASA picked SpaceX over the planemaker's Starliner to return its astronauts from space next year.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.28-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.64-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 78 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 108 new highs and 10 new lows.
Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
