Dow climbs more than 170 points to post fourth straight winning day, propelled by rate cut hopes: Live updates

Stocks advanced Monday, with Wall Street building on the previous session's strong gains as traders lifted Federal Reserve rate cut expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 176.59 points, or 0.46%, to close at 38,852.27. It was the fourth consecutive winning session for the 30-stock index. The S&P 500 advanced 1.03% to end at 5,180.74, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.19% to reach 16,349.25.

An announcement from Hamas on Monday that it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to end the war with Israel gave stocks a boost in early afternoon trading.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session after fresh nonfarm payrolls data on Friday showed fewer-than-expected jobs were added in April along with an increase in unemployment, easing fears of an overheating economy.

"It's good that we're getting some sort of a continuation, because it seems as if the market is saying that the pullback is over and we'll just work our way back up," CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall said, adding that Monday's momentum is a reaction to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's statement last week that ruled out a rate hike as the central bank's next move. That "made investors breathe a sigh of relief," Stovall said.

While the peak of the first-quarter earnings season has passed, investors are still watching key companies set to report this week, including Dow member Disney on Tuesday and Uber on Wednesday. On Saturday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported a nearly 40% surge in year-over-year operating earnings for the first quarter. Berkshire also held its annual shareholders meeting.

Micron gained 4.7% after Baird upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral and said it sees "meaningful opportunities ahead" for the