U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher, Extending Last Week’s Recovery Rally
Stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Monday, extending the notable rebound seen last week. The major averages are all moving to the upside for the fourth consecutive session.
In recent trading, the major averages have reached new highs for the session. The Dow is up 321.01 points or 1.0 percent at 32,472.72, the Nasdaq is up 153.99 points or 1.3 percent at 12,266.30 and the S&P 500 is up 49.69 points or 1.2 percent at 4,117.05.
Traders continue to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels after the major averages snapped a three-week losing streak last week, bouncing well off their lowest levels in over a month.
Optimism about a slowdown in inflation has also contributed to the strength On Wall Street ahead of the release of a closely watched report on consumer prices on Tuesday.
The report is expected to show a continued slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth to 8.1 percent in August from 8.5 percent in July.
Meanwhile, the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, is expected to tick up to 6.0 percent in August from 5.9 percent in July.
The data may not impact expectations for a 75 basis point interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve next week but could affect the outlook for future rate hikes.
Reports on producer prices, import and export prices, retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment are also likely to attract attention in the coming days.
Oil stocks are seeing significant strength on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Oil Index. The rally by oil stocks comes as the price of crude oil for October delivery is jumping $1.70 to $88.49 a barrel.
Considerable strength is also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
The strength in the gold sector comes amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery climbing $9.30 to $1,737.90 an ounce.
Natural gas, computer hardware and networking stocks are also seeing notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Monday, with markets in China, Hong Kong and South Korea closed for holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.2 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped by 1.0 percent.
The major European markets have also shown strong moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has surged by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 2.2 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 2.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back off their early highs but remain positive. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.1 basis points at 3.300 percent.
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