By Alison Griswold
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, extending gains after a robust June payrolls report to move the S&P 500 closer to its all-time high attained in May.
Wall Street jumped at the open, adding to a rally that pushed the benchmark S&P 500 index up 1 percent on Friday after U.S. government data showed the economy created more jobs than expected.
The advances have reassured investors, who worried that a strong jobs report could trigger a negative reaction from the market. Strong economic data increases the likelihood the Federal Reserve will start to reduce its massive monetary stimulus in the near future, and interest rates have jumped sharply. Higher rates make borrowing more expensive and stocks less attractive in terms of valuation.
"We've turned the corner," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas. "Friday was a pivotal point for the market changing its focus from, 'What is the Fed going to do to support the market?' to 'What's going on in the economy?'"
The week's earnings reports will test whether the market is focused on the economy instead of the Fed, Frederick said.
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Dow component Alcoa Inc , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, unofficially begins the earnings season after the market's close. The company is expected to report earnings of 6 cents per share on revenue of $5.83 billion. Alcoa shares rose 0.8 percent to $7.87.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81.52 points, or 0.54 percent, at 15,217.36. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 8.20 points, or 0.50 percent, at 1,640.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2.68 points, or 0.08 percent, at 3,482.06.
Goldman Sachs analyst David Kostin said in a note to clients that rising earnings, coupled with stable margins, should lift the S&P 500 by 8 percent to Goldman's year-end target of 1,750. The index ended at 1,631.89 on Friday.
Eight of the 10 S&P 500 industry sector indexes rose, led by gains in energy, utilities and consumer staples. Consol Energy was the S&P 500's best performer, up 3.4 percent at
$27.42.
Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings growth to rise 2.9 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, while quarterly revenue is forecast to increase 1.5 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Dell Inc climbed 2.9 percent to $13.41 after investment advisory firm ISS recommended shareholders vote for Chief Executive Michael Dell's $24.4 billion buyout offer.
Cytokinetics Inc shares fell 4.4 percent to $12.25 after the company disclosed a programming error in a study of its treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
(Reporting by Alison Griswold; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)