Investors are buying U.S. equities as they wait for important economic news.

 Investors are buying U.S. equities as they anticipate the release of crucial economic data.U.S. markets opened higher as investors awaited the release of several crucial economic data and continued to process Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech from last Friday.

At 11:10 AM Eastern Standard Time (15:10 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 159 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite had gained 0.4%.

At the annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday, Powell made his case for maintaining the current interest rate level. However, if the economy does not slow enough to help temper prices, "further tightening" may be necessary, he said.

Trying to Predict Inflation

Powell and other Fed officials are working very hard to contain price increases without triggering a full-scale economic collapse, as seen by their words.

At its upcoming meeting in September, the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged from their current range of 5.25% to 5.50%, as predicted by Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool. In the meanwhile, the likelihood of a quarter-point raise at its November meeting is now just under 50%, up from about 35% last week.

On Thursday, the Fed's favorite indicator of price increase, the personal consumption expenditure index, will be revealed, giving it an opportunity to judge the trend of inflation. 

This week's economic reports

The August nonfarm payrolls number will be released on Friday, and policymakers will be analyzing it as well. The unemployment rate is predicted to remain constant at 3.5%, and economists predict that the United States will have created 170,000 jobs during the month, down from 187,000 in July. In spite of the continued tightness in the labor market, this might be an indication that the Federal Reserve's rate rises are dampening demand from businesses. 

Shares of 3M (NYSE:MMM) were among the best performers today, rising 3.8%. Hundreds of thousands of claims claiming that the Minnesota-based industrial conglomerate's earplugs provided to the U.S. military were faulty are allegedly close to being settled for $5.5 billion.

Multiple media outlets have quoted unnamed sources saying that a settlement sum has not yet been agreed upon while discussions are underway. Bloomberg was the first to reveal the settlement talks.