US stocks rally late to finish July with robust month of gains

• US stocks rallied at Monday's close, wrapping up a month of strong gains.
• That's as July saw inflation cool past expectations, as well as strong earnings.

US stocks rallied late to end higher, concluding a month of strong gains driven by better-than-expected inflation trends and a robust earnings season so far.

After trading mixed or lower heading into the closing bell, the major indexes reversed up at the last minute.

For the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 3.3%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite rose 4%, and the S&P 500 gained 3.1%, as both notched their fifth consecutive monthly advance.

Looking further into this week, shareholders can expect more earnings releases, with Apple and Amazon set to publish their reports on Thursday.

Additionally, monthly payroll data will be released on Friday by the Labor Department, providing a better guideline as to whether the US economy is headed for a soft landing.

Here's where US indexes stood 4:00 a.m. ET closing bell on Monday:

• S&P 500: 4,588.96, up 0.15%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,559.53, up 0.28% (100.24 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,346.02, up 0.21%

Here's what else is happening this morning:

• As a majority of Americans are still locked into lower rates, few have not been hit by the Federal Reserve's hiking cycle.
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said regulators asked to delist every crypto asset but bitcoin.
• Ryan Cohen is facing a lawsuit from Bed Bath & Beyond shareholders for using a smiling moon emoji.
• The Chinese yuan is expanding in Bolivia amid the nation's step back from the dollar.
• Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson says today's "pivot rally" is similar to 2019.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.84% to $81.55 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, inched up 0.67% to $85.55.
• Gold rose 0.8% to $1,966.8 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped 1.2 basis points up to 3.957%.
• Bitcoin declined 0.10% to $29,240.21.