Stocks Turn Positive After Seeing Initial Weakness - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure at the open, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of morning trading on Monday. The major averages have bounced well off their lows for the session and into positive territory.

Currently, the major averages are hanging on to moderate gains. The Dow is up 63.20 points or 0.4 percent at 17,960.66, the Nasdaq is up 16.40 points or 0.3 percent at 4,954.61 and the S&P 500 is up 8.16 points or 0.4 percent at 2,088.89.

The initial weakness on Wall Street was partly due to a steep drop by the price of crude oil, which fell sharply after major oil producing nations failed to reach an agreement on a production freeze at a weekend meeting in Doha.

Crude oil for May delivery is currently tumbling $1.16 to $39.20 a barrel after rising $0.64 or 1.6 percent to $40.36 a barrel in the previous week.

With the decrease, the price of crude oil is moving lower for the fourth straight session after reaching its highest level since November last Tuesday.

However, selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, and buying interest has subsequently emerged to help stocks turn higher.

Trucking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the Dow Jones Trucking Index up by 1.3 percent. With the gain, the index has reached its best intraday level in almost a month.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) is turning in one of the trucking sector's best performances after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings.

Biotechnology, consumer discretionary, and steel stocks have also moved higher, although most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing that homebuilder confidence remained unchanged in April.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came in at 58 in April, unchanged from March. The index had been expected to inch up to 59.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 3.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a moderate move to the downside. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.3 basis points at 1.775 percent.