U.S. market indexes were higher Monday as stocks appear poised for a rally and the second quarter earnings outlook seems positive. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18226.93 for a gain of 80.19 points or 0.44 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2137.16 for a gain of 7.26 points or 0.34 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4988.64 for a gain of 31.88 points or 0.64 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher on Monday at 13.56 for a gain of 0.36 points or 2.73 percent.

Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Monday’s Market Movers

The day’s leading economic report was the Labor Market Conditions Index which showed an improvement for the month of June. For the month, the Index reading was at -1.9 which was above the prior revised reading of -3.6.

For the day, stocks trended higher with a positive outlook on earnings being reported by many market investors. The following stocks reported active market trading with gains on Monday.

Gains (percent)

Bank of America +0.30

General Electric +0.03

Alcoa +3.26

Ford +1.38

Intel +1.12

Apple +0.31

Microsoft +0.55

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains for the day:

Gains (percent)

Boeing 1.5

Goldman Sachs 1.2

Intel 1.12

American Express 1.09

DuPont 0.86

Top sectors for the broad market were industrial and technology. In technology, stocks leading in the sector for the day included the following:

Gains (percent)

NetEase Inc ADR 6.21

JD.com Inc ADR 5.02

Baidu Inc ADR 4.52

Liberty Media Corp. 3.94

In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -1.23 points or -0.94 percent. The U.S. Dollar Index was higher for the day at 96.58 for a gain of 0.22 points or 0.23 percent.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 followed the day’s trend higher closing at 1190.03 for a gain of 12.67 points or 1.08 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 730.53 for a gain of 8.13 points or 1.13 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7276.73 for a gain of 58.34 points or 0.81 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8548.01 for a gain of 79.59 points or 0.94 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1529.13 for a gain of 8.71 points or 0.57 percent; the S&P 100 Index closing at 945.64 for a gain of 3.39 points or 0.36 percent; the Russell 3000 Index closing at 1261.19 for a gain of 5.22 points or 0.42 percent; the Russell 1000 Index closing at 1183.43 for a gain of 4.28 points or 0.36 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 618.66 for a gain of 2.86 points or 0.46 percent.