Wall Street saw modest gains as investors awaited Nvidia's highly anticipated second-quarter earnings, due after market close. Nvidia shares slipped 0.1% while overall trading activity remained cautious. The absence of key U.S. economic data also contributed to subdued moves, with traders looking ahead to a major report later in the week.

The Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of July which includes the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation. The report, which is expected to show an uptick in the annual rate of core consumer price growth to 2.9% in July from 2.8% in June, could impact the outlook for interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.2% chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting in September.

Energy stocks turned in a strong performance amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index jumping by 2.1% and the NYSE Arca Oil Index climbing by 1.7%. Computer hardware stocks was considerably strong , as reflected by the 1.3% gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Software and telecom stocks too saw some strength on the day, while brokerage stocks moved to the downside.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3% while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.8%. The major European markets also ended the day mixed while the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1% and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, dipped by 2 bps to 4.23%.

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