Here’s what Wall Street is watching this week

US stocks opened mixed Monday morning as investors looked to a key earnings report and a slew of economic data points due later this week.

US stocks opened mixed Monday morning as investors looked to a key earnings report and a slew of economic data points due later this week. The Dow rose 95 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 gained 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1%. Global markets have gone on a wild ride this month. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index crashed and American stocks plunged in early August as the yen carry trade unraveled and a weak US jobs report sparked recession fears. Mixed earnings reports from the Big Tech giants who dominated this year also dragged the market lower. Just weeks later, the narrative has changed yet again. All three major US stock indexes have now clawed back those losses, and then some, on track to notch monthly gains. The S&P 500 and Dow are within striking distance of all-time highs. A slew of cooling inflation reports has investors riding high on optimism that the Federal Reserve will finally begin cutting interest rates next month after bringing rates to their highest level in decades. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday at an economic summit in Wyoming that “the time has come” for monetary policy to loosen, all but cementing a September rate cut. Powell also indicated that he believes the Fed could achieve the elusive soft landing, which is when inflation comes down without a surge in unemployment. That scenario “is an economic consensus, a market consensus and seemingly a consensus of corporate America,” wrote Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management, in a Friday note.