Stocks Move To The Upside Amid Advance By Apple - U.S. Commentary

(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.

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.

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.

Buying interest may also have been generated by comments from Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans.

In a speech in Stockholm, Evans said the Fed should keep interest rates near zero until early 2016, noting that inflation is still well below the central bank's target.

Nonetheless, traders remain somewhat reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data later in the week.

Reports on housing starts, existing home sales and consumer price inflation are likely to be in focus in the coming days.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on the minutes of the latest Fed meeting as well as a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Home Builders showing an unexpected drop in homebuilder confidence in the month of May.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 54 in May after climbing to a reading of 56 in April. The pullback surprised economists, who had expected the index to inch up to 57.

Sector News

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.

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 climbed by 0.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile the major European markets all moved higher on the day. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K's FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are pulling back sharply after seeing significant strength last Friday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 7.9 basis points at 2.22 percent.