Stocks Remain Firmly Positive In Mid-Day Trading - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, adding to the modest gains posted last week. With the upward move on the day, the major averages have all reached new record intraday highs.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering in positive territory. The Dow is up 82.08 points or 0.4 percent at 18,658.55, the Nasdaq is up 36.87 points or 0.7 percent at 5,269.76 and the S&P 500 is up 9.23 points or 0.4 percent at 2,193.28.

Steel stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 3.1 percent. The index is regaining ground after moving lower in four out of the five previous sessions,

Ryerson Holding (RYI), AK Steel (AKS), and U.S. Steel (X) are turning in some of the steel sector's best performances in mid-day trading.

Significant strength is also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent advance by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the sector comes amid a jump by the price of crude oil.

Electronic storage, biotechnology, and semiconductor stocks have also shown strong moves to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing an improvement in homebuilder confidence in the month of August.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index climbed to 60 in August from a downwardly revised 58 in July.

Economists had expected the homebuilder confidence index to inch up to 60 from the 59 originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the New York Federal Reserve unexpectedly showed a contraction in New York manufacturing activity.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index fell to a negative 4.21 in August from a positive 0.55 in July. A negative reading indicates a contraction in New York manufacturing activity.

The decline by the index came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to climb to a positive 2.50.

In overseas trading, stocks markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside after seeing considerable strength last Friday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.1 basis points at 1.546 percent.