04:00 PM EDT, 09/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes ended higher Monday as traders assessed remarks by two Federal Reserve officials supporting the central bank's recent decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points.

* Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Monday that the Federal Open Market Committee made the right decision at the meeting, though future policy moves are likely to be determined by incoming economic data.

"My residual concern about inflation might have led me to settle on a relatively small first move last week -- say, 25 basis points," Bostic, an FOMC voting member this year, said. "But such a move would belie growing uncertainty about the trajectory of the labor market."

* US private-sector output growth fell to a two-month low in September amid continued weakness in manufacturing, while the one-year headline outlook deteriorated sharply, according to S&P Global's ( SPGI ) flash purchasing managers' index.

* November West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down $0.54 at $70.46 per barrel, while November Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $0.51 at $73.98.

* Intel ( INTC ) was up 3.3% as Apollo Global Management (APO) reportedly offered to invest as much as $5 billion in the chipmaker.

* General Motors ( GM ) reportedly plans to lay off 1,695 workers at its Fairfax assembly facility in Kansas. The automaker's shares slumped nearly 2%.