Stocks Ended Higher and Posted Gains for September

U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday and Posted gains for the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 96.58 points, or 0.36%, to 26,916.83. The S&P 500 advanced 14.95 points, or 0.50%, to 2,976.74. The Nasdaq Composite gained 59.71 points, or 0.75%, to 7,999.34. For the month of September, the Dow gained 2%, the S&P advanced 1.7% and the Nasdaq added 0.5%. For the quarter, the Dow and the S&P 500 both rose 1.2%, but the Nasdaq fell 0.1%.

Oil futures sank on Monday, sending U.S. prices to their lowest settlement in a month, after reports that Saudi Aramco has fully restored production capacity. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery fell $1.84, or 3.3%, to settle at $54.07 a barrel. November Brent crude declined $1.13, or 1.8%, to $60.78 a barrel. WTI, based on front-month contract prices, saw a 1.9% monthly decline, and lost 7.5% for the quarter. Brent scored a 0.6% monthly climb, but ended down 8.7% for the quarter.