Dow jumps 400 points as US stocks surge ahead of midterms and inflation report

• US stocks bounced higher Monday ahead of a busy week for investors.
• Results for the midterm elections in Congress are due Tuesday, and October inflation data is due Thursday.

US stocks advanced Monday as investors prepared to receive results from midterm elections in Congress as well as inflation figures that will feed into the Federal Reserve's thinking about rate policy.

Nine of the S&P 500's 11 sectors rose on Monday, led by communications services and energy sectors, while the consumer discretionary and utility sectors lagged behind.

Wall Street's major indexes extended gains made Friday despite a hotter-than-expected October jobs report. The indexes, however, snapped weekly win streaks last week.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. opening bell on Monday:

• S&P 500: 3,806.80, up 0.96%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,827.00, up 1.31% (423.78 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 10,564.52, up 0.85%

Investors will watch for results from the midterm elections on Tuesday which will be followed on Thursday by the October consumer price index report.

"Tuesday's US midterm elections could be market moving if we see a Democratic surprise or if Republicans dominate the polls, but most traders are zeroing in on Thursday's inflation report," Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.

"It is still all about inflation and while this report might not be as hot as the last few, it still should show that rents and the core-service sector part of the economy are still hot. Inflation might not fall as quickly as some Fed members are expecting and that could support the idea that rates will stay higher for longer."

Market analysts told Insider that the S&P 500 looks to be in a position to log gains in the 12 months after the midterms, which it has done since World War II.

Here's what else is happening today:

• Tesla stock fell to its lowest level since June 2021 as CEO Elon Musk turns his attention to Twitter's turnaround while fears grow of more stock sales.
• Economist Jeremy Siegel says the housing crash will force Fed chief Jerome Powell to "flip sometime" on inflation and pivot on rate hikes.
• Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says "true" US inflation may have cooled to below 4%.
• "Dr. Doom" Nouriel Roubini warns the S&P 500 could plunge another 30% as the US economy faces a long recession.
• China's stocks could rise 20% once the country fully reopens after zero-COVID curbs, but that won't come for months, says Goldman Sachs.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude lost 0.7% to $91.98 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 0.4% to $98.16.
• Gold picked up 0.1% to $1,679 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 4.21%.
• Bitcoin fell 1.4% to $20,836.01.