WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved modestly higher during trading on
Monday, adding to the strong gains posted last week. The major averages have all
moved to the upside on the day, although buying interest has been somewhat
subdued.

Currently, the Nasdaq is up 59.63 points or 0.3 percent at 18,412.39, the Dow is
up 58.06 points or 0.2 percent at 39,433.93 and the S&P 500 is up 7.20 points or
0.1 percent at 5,574.39.

The modest strength on Wall Street partly reflects optimism about the outlook
for interest rates ahead of several key economic events this week.

While the economic calendar gets off to a slow start today, reports on consumer
and producer prices in June will be in the spotlight in the coming days.

The Labor Department's report on consumer prices is expected to show a slowdown
in the pace of annual price growth, which could bolster optimism about a rate
cut in September.

Traders are also likely to pay close attention to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome
Powell's congressional testimony this week, looking for clues about the interest
rate outlook.

Networking stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances on the
day, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 2.0 percent to a nearly
five-month intraday high.

Semiconductor and computer hardware stocks are also seeing considerable strength
contributing to the uptick by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Reflecting the relatively lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of
the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly
lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent,
China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng
Index tumbled by 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the
day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index
is down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are giving back ground after trending higher over
the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year
note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.5 basis points at 4.287
percent.



Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX