Dow And S&P 500 Reach New Record Intraday Highs

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks have moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday. The upward move on the day has lifted both the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record intraday highs.

The strength that has emerged on Wall Street is partly due to a notable advanced by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant climbing by 1.2 percent.

The gain by Apple comes after activist investor Carl Icahn said the company's shares are worth $240 and called for accelerated stock buybacks.

While many of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves, significant strength has emerged among biotechnology stocks. Reflecting the strength in the biotech sector, the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index is up by 1.4 percent.

Exact Sciences (EXAS) and United Therapeutics (UTHR) are turning in two of the biotech sector's best performances, jumping by 4.3 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.

Brokerage stocks have also shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 1.3 percent. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and E*Trade (ETFC) are posting standout gains.

Banking, networking, and semiconductor stocks are also seeing some strength in mid-day trading, while weakness among steel and oil service stocks has helped to limit the upside for the markets.

Currently, the major averages remain in positive territory. The Dow is up 12.91 points or 0.1 percent at 18,285.47, the Nasdaq is up 19.48 points or 0.4 percent at 5,067.77 and the S&P 500 is up 4.51 points or 0.2 percent at 2,127.24.