U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher, Nasdaq Joins Dow In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - Stocks turned in a mixed performance in early trading on Monday but have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session. The major averages are adding to the strong gains posted last Friday, with the Dow reaching its best intraday level in over a month.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering in positive territory. The Dow is up 334.53 points or 1.1 percent at 31,417.09, the Nasdaq is up 49.47 points or 0.5 percent at 10,909.19 and the S&P 500 is up 34.69 points or 0.9 percent at 3,787.44.

The markets continue to benefit from optimism the Federal Reserve will signal a slowdown in monetary policy tightening following its meeting next week.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points next week, but traders are hopeful the central bank will indicate plans to slow the pace of rates hikes beginning in December.

The optimism partly stems from a Wall Street Journal report suggesting some Fed officials have expressed greater unease with the aggressive pace of rate hikes.

Overall trading activity remains somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data keeping some traders on the sidelines.

A report on personal income and spending that includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Fed is likely to be in focus in the coming days.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, and durable goods orders and third quarter GDP.

Earnings news may also drive trading this week, with Coca-Cola (KO), General Electric (GE), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), McDonald's (MCD), Apple (AAPL), Intel (INTC) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) among a slew of big-name companies due to report their quarterly results.

Sector News

Transportation stocks continue to turn in some of the market's best performances in afternoon trading, resulting in a 2.4 percent surge by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Considerable strength also remains visible among healthcare and pharmaceutical stocks, with the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index and the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index both climbing by 1.6 percent.

Banking stocks have also shown a significant move to the upside on the day, driving the KBW Bank Index up by 1.5 percent.

Oil service, housing and retail stocks have also shown notable moves to the upside, while steel and gold stocks continue to see substantial weakness.

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 rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 2.0 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plummeted by 6.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both jumped by 1.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session and are currently little changed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.217 percent.