Nasdaq, S&P 500 Regain Ground But Dow Closes Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Following the sell-off seen during last Friday's session, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Monday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground, although the narrower Dow ended the day modestly lower.

While the Nasdaq climbed 111.69 points or 0.6 percent to 18,791.81 and the S&P 500 rose 23.00 points or 0.4 percent to 5,893.62, the Dow edged down 55.39 points or 0.1 percent to 43,389.60.

The rebound on Wall Street may partly have reflected bargain hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat subdued levels following the steep drop seen last week.

The major averages pulled back well off their record highs last week amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates along with worries about the impact of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed policies and cabinet nominees.

Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of quarterly results from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA).

Nvidia, which has recently been a driver of the markets, is scheduled to release its fiscal third quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing homebuilder confidence has improved by much more than anticipated in the month of November.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index climbed to 46 in November after rising to 43 in October. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 44.

With the much bigger than expected increase, the housing market index reached its highest level since hitting 51 in April.

Sector News

Gold stocks moved sharply higher on the day, resulting in a 4.2 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks comes amid a substantial increase by the price of the precious metal.

Considerable strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) led the sector higher after a report from Barron's said the company is expected to file a plan to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq.

Natural gas, steel and oil stocks also saw significant strength, while airline stocks showed a notable move to the downside.

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 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

The major European markets also turned mixed over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the session modestly higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.4 basis points to 4.414 percent after reaching a high of 4.491 percent.