Major Averages Turn Positive After Seeing Initial Weakness

(RTTNews) - After moving to the downside at the open, stocks have shown a notable turnaround over the course of early trading on Monday. The major averages have bounced well off their lows for the young session and into positive territory.

The initial weakness on Wall Street was partly due to continued concerns about the situation in Iraq amid reports that Sunni insurgents are making further progress toward Baghdad.

Selling pressure waned not long after the open, however, with a batch of upbeat U.S. economic data helping to limit the downside.

The subsequent recovery reflects better than expected readings on New York manufacturing activity, industrial production, and homebuilder confidence.

Considerable strength has emerged among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 3.9 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. SanDisk (SNDK) is leading the sector higher after agreeing to acquire Fusion-io (FIO) for about $1.1 billion.

Utilities stocks are also seeing significant strength, with Williams (WMB) posting a standout gain after agreeing to pay nearly $6 billion to expand its ownership of Access Midstream Partners (ACMP).

Most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains, near their best levels of the day. The Dow is up 15.35 points or 0.1 percent at 16,791.09, the Nasdaq is up 14.91 points or 0.4 percent at 4,325.56 and the S&P 500 is up 4.75 points or 0.3 percent at 1,940.91.