US markets end higher on Monday

04 Feb 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Monday as traders picked up stocks at reduced levels on the heels of the steep drop seen in the previous session. Adding to the positive sentiment, US manufacturing activity unexpectedly expanded for the first time in several months in January, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The ISM said its purchasing managers index surged up to 50.9 in January after slipping to a revised 47.8 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in manufacturing activity. Street had expected the index to show a more modest increase to a reading of 48.5, which would have still indicated a contraction. With the much bigger than expected increase, the index returned to expansion territory for the first time since July 2019. The jump by the headline index came as the production index soared to 54.3 in January from 44.8 in December and the new orders spiked to 52.0 from 47.6.

However, after reporting a bigger than expected increase in US construction spending in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report showing construction spending unexpectedly edged lower in the month of December. The Commerce Department said construction spending dipped by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $1.328 trillion in December after climbing by 0.7 percent to a revised rate of $1.330 trillion in November. The modest pullback came as a surprise to participants, who had expected construction spending to increase by 0.5 percent. With the unexpected decrease, construction spending pulled back off the more than one-year high reached in the previous month. Spending on private construction edged down by 0.1 percent to a rate of $991.2 billion, as a 1.4 percent jump in spending on residential construction was more than offset by 1.8 percent slump in spending on non-residential construction.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 143.78 points or 0.51 percent to 28399.81, Nasdaq rose 122.47 points or 1.34 percent to 9273.40 and S&P 500 was up by 23.4 points or 0.73 percent to 3248.92.

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