U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher As Oil Prices Plunge

Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, with the major averages all moving to the upside after turning in mixed performances in the two previous sessions.

Currently, the Dow is up 296.63 points or 0.7 percent at 42,411.03, the Nasdaq is up 99.05 points or 0.5 percent at 18,617.65 and the S&P 500 is up 25.14 points or 0.4 percent at 5,833.26.

The strength on Wall Street comes amid a steep drop by the price of oil, with crude oil for December delivery plummeting $3.80 to $67.98 a barrel.

Oil prices are plunging after Israel’s retaliatory attack against Iran over the weekend did not damage the Islamic republic’s energy facilities.

Meanwhile, traders are also looking ahead to the release of key U.S. economic data later in the week.

The monthly jobs report as well as a report on personal income and spending that includes the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation readings are likely to be in the spotlight.

Reports on third quarter GDP, consumer confidence, pending home sales and manufacturing sector activity may also attract some attention.

The data could impact the outlook for the economy as well as expectations regarding how quickly the Fed will lower interest rates.

Earnings news is also likely to be in focus in the coming days, with Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Intel (INTC), McDonald’s (MCD), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Pfizer (PFE) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.

Sector News

Airline stocks are seeing substantial strength on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.9 percent to its best intraday level in over a year.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) is posting a standout gain after filing a lawsuit against CrowdStrike (CRWD) over the July outage that led to thousands of flight cancellations.

Significant strength is also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Financial, biotechnology and housing stocks are also seeing considerable strength, while energy stocks have moved to the downside along with the price of crude oil.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.8 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.6 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the pullback seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.6 basis points at 4.258 percent.

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