US Stocks Gain Ground Monday           05/23 11:01

   Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Monday following seven weeks 
of declines that nearly ended the bull market that began in March 2020.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Monday 
following seven weeks of declines that nearly ended the bull market that began 
in March 2020.

   The S&P 500 rose 1.2% as of 10:47 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average rose 505 points, or 1.6%, to 31,767 and the Nasdaq rose 0.7%.

   Banks made strong gains along with rising bond yields, which they rely on to 
charge more lucrative interest on loans. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 
to 2.83% from 2.77% late Friday. Bank of America rose 5.6%.

   Technology stocks also did some heavy lifting. Apple rose 2.6% and Microsoft 
rose 2.3%. The sector has been choppy over the last few weeks and has prompted 
many of the market's recent big swings.

   VMware surged 19.9% following a report that chipmaker Broadcom is offering 
to buy the cloud-computing company.

   Retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending slipped. 
Amazon fell 2.5% and Home Depot fell 1.4%. A series of disappointing earnings 
reports from key retailers last week raised concerns that consumers are 
tempering spending on a wide range of goods as they get squeezed by rising 
inflation.

   Lingering concerns about inflation have been weighing on the market and have 
kept major indexes in a slump. The benchmark S&P 500 is so far experiencing its 
longest weekly losing streak since the dot-com bubble was deflating in 2001. It 
came close to falling 20% from its peak earlier this year, which would put the 
index at the heart of most workers' 401(k) accounts into a bear market.

   Inflation's impact on consumers and businesses has been the key worry for 
markets, along with the Federal Reserve's attempt to temper that impact by 
aggressively raising interest rates. Inflation brought on by a big supply and 
demand disconnect has worsened because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its 
impact on energy prices. Supply chains were further hurt by China's recent 
series of lockdowns for several major cities facing rising COVID-19 cases.

   Investors are worried that the central bank could go too far in raising 
rates or move too quickly, which could stunt economic growth and potentially 
bring on a recession. On Wednesday, investors will get a more detailed glimpse 
into the Fed's decision-making process with the release of minutes from the 
latest policy setting meeting.

   Wall Street will also get a few economic updates this week from the Commerce 
Department. On Thursday it will release a report on first-quarter gross 
domestic product and on Friday it will release data on personal income and 
spending for April.