U.S. Market Indexes Higher with Positive Outlook
U.S. market indexes finished higher on Monday to start the week. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18636.05 for a gain of 59.58 points or 0.32 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2190.15 for a gain of 6.10 points or 0.28 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5262.02 for a gain of 29.12 points or 0.56 percent.
Monday’s Market Movers
On Monday the Empire State Manufacturing Index was negative. The Index which reports on general business conditions in the New York region’s manufacturing sector was at -4.21, down from 0.55. The Housing Market Index improved to 60 after a previous reading of 59.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Chesapeake Energy
Bank of America
Apple
Cisco
General Electric
Facebook
Intel
Microsoft
Oil prices gained for the day. Oil previously weighed heavily on market activity last week. For Monday, oil prices gained nearly 3 percent. WTI crude was at $45.68 and Brent crude was at $48.27. Oil prices helped the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to all reach new highs for the day. The positive improvement in the Housing Market Index also helped housing stocks. D.R. Horton and Lennar Corp. both finished higher for the day.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains for the day:
Gains (percent)
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co 1.45
Goldman Sachs Group Inc 1.41
Caterpillar Inc 1.39
Apple Inc 1.2
Boeing Co 1.17
Visa Inc Class A 1.11
Cisco Systems Inc 1.04
Top sectors for the broad market were materials and energy. Technology also gained. In technology, the following stocks led gains:
Gains (percent)
Liberty Media Corp 9.53
Illumina Inc 3.81
Liberty Global PLC C 3.68
Western Digital Corp 3.45
Baidu Inc ADR 2.96
Skyworks Solutions Inc 2.92
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.44 points or 0.35 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.10 points or -0.10 percent at 95.62.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was higher at 1241.86 for a gain of 12.04 points or 0.98 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 750.96 for a gain of 6.80 points or 0.91 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7592.68 for a gain of 81.05 points or 1.08 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was higher at 8771.29 for a gain of 56.93 points or 0.65 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1569.10 for a gain of 11.33 points or 0.73 percent; the S&P 100 Index closing at 968.82 for a gain of 2.31 points or 0.24 percent; the Russell 3000 Index closing at 1294.99 for a gain of 4.82 points or 0.37 percent; the Russell 1000 Index closing at 1213.55 for a gain of 3.92 points or 0.32 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 621.10 for a gain of -0.26 points or -0.04 percent.
