Wall Street ends mixed while chip stocks rally
- Boeing rises after plea deal in 737 MAX probe
- Paramount Global drops after Skydance merger deal
- Fed's Powell to testify in Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday
Wall Street ended mixed on Monday as investors awaited fresh inflation data, commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the start of quarterly earnings season.
Nvidia 
NVDA, Intel 
INTC, Advanced Micro Devices 
AMD and other chipmakers rose, lifting the Philadelphia semiconductor index 
SOX about 2%.
Traders will scrutinize consumer price data due on Thursday and producer price data expected on Friday to gauge the Fed's progress in fighting inflation.
Investors worry that waiting too long to cut interest rates could damage the labor market and push the economy into a recession. They will closely monitor Powell's semiannual testimony before U.S. Senate and House committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"What investors want to hear is a dovish tone and an acknowledgement that the two-sided risks are more evenly balanced today, in particular, with respect to the labor market," said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird.
Expectations for interest rate cuts as early as September grew after Friday's nonfarm payrolls report showed U.S. job growth slowed in June - the latest data to point to weakness in labor market conditions.
Traders now see a greater than 75% chance of a rate cut of at least 25 basis points by September, up from last week's 60%, according to CME's FedWatch.
Citigroup 
C, JPMorgan Chase 
JPM and Wells Fargo 
WFC are slated to kick off Wall Street's second-quarter earnings season on Friday.
Analysts on average see S&P 500 companies increasing their aggregate earnings per share by 10.1% in the second quarter, up from an 8.2% increase in the first quarter, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 
SPX gained 5.66 points, or 0.10%, to end at 5,572.84 points, while the Nasdaq Composite 
IXIC gained 49.58 points, or 0.27%, to 18,403.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
DJI fell 31.14 points, or 0.08%, to 39,344.73.
Paramount Global 
PARA fell after it agreed on Sunday to merge with Skydance Media, scripting a new chapter for one of Hollywood's oldest studios.
Planemaker Boeing 
BA gained after agreeing to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of $243.6 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into two fatal 737 MAX crashes.