STORY: U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday, with investors increasing their expectations of a second Donald Trump presidency in the wake of a failed assassination attempt.

The Dow gained half a percent, the S&P 500 added three-tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq climbed four-tenths.

While all three major stock indexes ended well below their session highs, the Dow notched an all-time closing high.

Investors see a Trump presidency as likely resulting in a more hawkish trade policy, an extension of tax cuts and deregulation in a host of areas ranging from climate change to cryptocurrencies.

"If anyone can turn an assassination attempt into a home run, it's Donald Trump."

Eric Diton is president and managing director of The Wealth Alliance.

"The markets are telling you the story. The markets are excited. The Trump stocks are rallying. Trump stocks are crypto stocks, they're prison stocks, they're guns. Clean energy selling off, the anti-Trump stocks. [FLASH] The markets like the pro-Trump world."

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, parent of the former president's Truth Social platform, soared nearly 31.5%.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by optimism that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates as soon as September, with as many as three total cuts by the end of the year.

Other stock movers included Goldman Sachs, up more than 2.5%, after the investment bank reported that its second-quarter profit more than doubled, beating analyst estimates.

Shares of Macy's dropped more than 11.5% after the department store scrapped buyout talks with Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital.