Stocks head higher in final hour of trading, with Dow and Nasdaq adding to last week’s gains

All three major stock indexes headed higher in Monday’s final hour of trading, led by a 0.9% gain in the Nasdaq Composite. The Nasdaq and the Dow, which was up 0.3%, added to gains seen last Friday, when they finished with their best weekly performance since March. The S&P advanced 0.4%, adding to its best weekly performance since mid-June, as investors largely looked ahead to a busy earnings-reporting period and brushed aside China’s soft economic-growth data.