Stocks Remain Firmly Positive Following Initial Jump - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks remain firmly positive in mid-day trading on Monday. The strong gains on the day come on the heels of the notable decline that was seen in the previous week.

The major averages have pulled back off their best levels of the day but currently continue to post strong gains. The Dow is up 190.18 points or 1.1 percent at 17,865.34, the Nasdaq is up 67.45 points or 1.4 percent at 4,867.79 and the S&P 500 is up 21.41 points or 1 percent at 2,092.63.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid easing concerns about Thursday's referendum on whether Britain will remain in the European Union.

Polls released over the weekend suggested that British voters narrowly support keeping the U.K. as a member of the EU.

Bargain hunting also contributed to the upward move after last week's decline pulled the major averages down to their lowest levels in almost a month.

Trading activity has waned since the open, however, as traders look ahead to the referendum on the so-called Brexit.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual testimony before Congress is also likely to attract attention in the coming days.

Traders are likely to keep a close eye on Yellen's remarks, looking for clues regarding the outlook for U.S. monetary policy.

The Fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting last week and seemed to offer a dovish assessment of the outlook for rates.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors have moved notably higher on the day, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

Steel stocks have shown a particularly strong upward move, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 3.7 percent. Brazil's CSN (SID) and ArcelorMittal (MT) are posting standout gains.

Considerable strength is also visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Violin Memory (VMEM), Western Digital (WDC), and Teradata (TDC) are turning in some of the best performances.

Financial stocks are also seeing significant strength in mid-day trading, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the Dow Jones Banks Index jumping by 2.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Biotechnology, transportation and semiconductor are also seeing substantial strength on the day, while gold and utilities stocks are among the few groups bucking the uptrend.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stocks markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved to the upside during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.7 percent.

The major European markets also moved substantially higher on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index spiked by 3 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index soared by 3.4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have come under pressure amid the rally on Wall Street. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5 basis points at 1.668 percent.