The S&P and Nasdaq closed higher on Monday with the biggest boosts from the highest-profile technology and communications companies while investors eyed product news from Apple Inc. and appeared optimistic about the third-quarter earnings season. After a weak start following disappointing economic data from China, the S&P and Nasdaq gathered steam in late morning with gains in FAANG stocks—Facebook Inc., Apple, Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google—as well as Microsoft Corp. Apple shares closed 1 percent higher after the company made a splash by unveiling new Mac laptop computers with more powerful processor chips. Facebook shares, under pressure recently, closed up more than 3 percent with some positive reports out including its plans to create 10,000 jobs in Europe to help build the so-called metaverse—an online world. With just a small minority of companies having reported quarterly results so far, investors were hopeful for some good news in the …