Stocks Climb as Traders Watch Past Treasury Yields. Nasdaq Composite Hits New High.

Stocks climbed on Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite reaching a new record as investors look past rising bond yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.18%, while the S&P 500 did so 0.66%. The Nasdaq Composite surged 1.05% to clock in at 27,477.

The index was buoyed by stocks tied to the artificial intelligence trade, including SpaceX, Meta and Microsoft. Nvidia continued to climb, getting closer to a $6 trillion valuation.

Bond yields also climbed on Monday. The benchmark 10-year yield rose more than 6 basis points and got closer to 5.35%, while the 30-year note almost touched 5.7%.

Investors will now look at the Federal Reseve's minutes to shed more light on the central bank's approach to sticky inflation.

However, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Chris Phelan said he doesn't expect the central bank to raise interest rates again this year after a weaker-than-expected September jobs report added to evidence that inflation and the labor market are cooling.

Phelan pointed to Friday's employment data and recent comments from senior Fed officials as reasons the central bank could remain on hold after raising rates in September. "I think with today's job market data, and a speech by the [Fed] vice chairman, I think the market is now no longer expecting another rate hike," Phelan told Yahoo Finance.

The U.S. economy added just 29,000 jobs in September, significantly below economists' expectations and down sharply from a revised gain of 133,000 in August. The unemployment rate edged up to 4.2% from 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The latest report also included weaker revisions for previous months. July payrolls were revised down by 31,000, turning an initially reported gain of 21,000 into a loss of 10,000 jobs, while August was revised down by 29,000. Combined, employment gains for July and August were 60,000 lower than previously reported.

Phelan, however, argued that the slower pace of hiring does not necessarily indicate a weak labor market. He estimated that the economy needs to add only around 40,000 jobs a month to keep the unemployment rate roughly stable and said an unemployment rate around its current level represents a healthy labor market.

"I think the job market's going well," Phelan said. The White House economist also renewed his criticism of the Fed's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point in September, calling the move a "mistake" because inflation had already begun to moderate.

"I said right before they raised rates that it would be a mistake to raise rates. I said right after they raised rates that it was a mistake to raise rates," Phelan told Yahoo Finance. "My view was simply keep your eye on the ball."