U.S. Market Indexes Gain on More Cautious Fed Outlook
U.S. market indexes were higher on Monday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18325.07 for a gain of 239.62 points or 1.32 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2159.04 for a gain of 31.23 points or 1.47 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5211.89 for a gain of 85.98 points or 1.68 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 15.05 for a loss of -2.45 points or -14.00 percent.
Monday’s Market Movers
On Monday there were no leading economic reports on the calendar. OPEC released its Monthly Oil Market Report. In the Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC continued to project high supply levels of oil for 2017. Oil prices were slightly higher for the day with WTI crude oil increasing to $46.04 a barrel and Brent crude increasing to $48.15 a barrel.
Comments from Federal Reserve official, Laurel Brainard helped stocks to gain Monday. The Federal Reserve governor’s comments called for a prudent and conservative approach to rate increases.
For the day, stocks trading actively included the following:
Bank of America
Chesapeake Energy
Apple
Ford
General Electric
Wells Fargo
Microsoft
AT&T
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains for the day:
Wal-Mart 2.33
Procter & Gamble PG 2.33
Apple 2.24
Coca-Cola 2.18
Visa 2.02
Cisco 1.91
Intel 1.81
International Business Machines 1.67
Top sectors for the broad market included consumer staples and utilities. Technology was also higher Monday. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5211.89 for a gain of 1.68 percent. The Nasdaq 100 closed higher at 4764.65 for a gain of 1.78 percent. Technology stocks leading gains included the following:
Liberty Media Group 9.53
NetEase 7.93
Liberty Global Group 4.56
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.13 points or -0.10 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.15 points or -0.16 percent to 95.14.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was higher at 1235.87 for a gain of 16.66 points or 1.37 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 748.18 for a gain of 8.21 points or 1.11 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7531.71 for a gain of 104.35 points or 1.40 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was higher at 8681.12 for a gain of 85.60 points or 1.00 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index higher at 1545.97 for a gain of 17.66 points or 1.16 percent; the S&P 100 Index higher at 956.20 for a gain of 13.58 points or 1.44 percent; the Russell 3000 Index higher at 1278.00 for a gain of 18.06 points or 1.43 percent; the Russell 1000 Index higher at 1196.81 for a gain of 16.97 points or 1.44 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index higher at 612.36 for a gain of 8.20 points or 1.36 percent.
