US markets end higher on Monday

18 Jul 2023 Evaluate


The US markets ended higher on Monday. The strength on markets partly reflected recent upward momentum, as encouraging inflation data has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting. While the Fed is widely expected to raise rates by another quarter point, traders are hopeful that will mark the final rate hike.  On the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.3 percent to its best closing level in over a year. Notable strength also emerged among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain posted by the KBW Bank Index. On the other hand, telecom stocks extended last Friday's sell-off, dragging the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index down by 4.5 percent to a three-year intraday low. Shares of A&T (T) plummeted by 4.5percent after Citi downgraded its rating on the telecom giant's stock to Neutral from Buy.

On the economic data front, after reporting a significant turnaround in New York manufacturing activity in the previous month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report showing a pullback in the pace of growth in the month of July. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index fell to 1.1 in July after surging to 6.6 in June, although a positive reading still indicates growth. Street had expected the index to drop to zero. The pullback by the headline index was partly due to a notable slowdown in the pace of shipment growth, as the shipments index tumbled to 13.4 in July from 22.0 in June. On the other hand, the number of employees index jumped to a positive 4.7 in July from a negative 3.6 in June, returning to positive territory for the first time since January. The new orders index also crept up to 3.3 in July from 3.1 in June, while the unfilled orders index slipped to a negative 8.8 in July from a negative 8.0 in June, indicating unfilled orders continued to decline.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.32 points or 0.22 percent to 34,585.35, Nasdaq surged 131.24 points or 0.93 percent to 14,244.95 and S&P 500 was up by 17.37 points or 0.39 percent to 4,522.79.
 


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