U.S. stocks end higher, kicking week off with gains ahead of Fed policy meeting

U.S. stocks ended higher Monday, kicking the week off with gains led by the blue-chip gauge Dow Jones Industrial Average ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.20%
rose more than 350 points to close 1.2% higher, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.89%
gained 0.9% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.39%
climbed 0.4%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. The Fed’s two-day policy meeting begins Tuesday, with many investors expecting the central bank to announce on Wednesday that it’s lifting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a target range of 4.75% to 5% in an effort to bring down high inflation. Fed-funds futures on Monday afternoon indicated a 73.1% chance of such a rate hike, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, at last check. Odds of the Fed deciding to pause its rate hikes after recent emergency steps to bolster the banking system were at 26.9% based on fed-fund futures trading.