After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks continue to see significant strength in afternoon trading on Monday. The major averages are all holding on to strong gains, offsetting the steep losses posted last Friday.
The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow is up 534.84 points or 1.8 percent at 30,169.67, the Nasdaq is up 340.01 points or 3.3 percent at 10,661.40 and the S&P 500 is up 93.34 points or 2.6 percent at 3,676.41.
The strong move back to the upside extends recent volatility on Wall Street, as stocks showed wild swings to close out the previous week.
Traders may be picking up stocks at reduced levels following the steep drop seen on Friday, which dragged the Nasdaq down to its lowest closing level in over two years.
A pullback by treasury yields has added to the buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling below 4.0 percent.
The markets have also benefitted from a positive reaction to earnings news from financial giant Bank of America (BAC).
Shares of Bank of America are surging by 5.6 percent after the company reported third quarter results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Earnings season will continue to pick up in the coming days, as Goldman Sachs (GS), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Netflix (NFLX), Procter & Gamble (PG), IBM Corp. (IBM), Tesla (TSLA), AT&T (T) and American Express (AXP) are among the companies due to report their quarterly results.
On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report showing regional manufacturing activity has contracted by more than expected in the month of October.
Sector News
Retail stocks are turning in some of the market’s best performances in afternoon trading, resulting in a 3.6 percent spike by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.
Substantial strength also remains visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 3.6 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
The rally by gold stocks comes amid a rebound by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery climbing $14.10 to $1,663 an ounce.
Commercial real estate, telecom, networking and computer hardware stocks are also seeing considerable strength amid broad based buying interest.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.2 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back off their early highs but continue to see modest strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.2 basis points at 3.998 percent.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Holding On To Strong Gains After Early Rally
2022-10-17 17:17:09
