Stocks Holding On To Modest Gains Following Early Upward Move - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - While buying interest has waned from earlier in the session, stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Monday. The major averages are adding to the strong gains posted on Friday, further offsetting the pullback seen early last week.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains, well off their highs for the session. The Dow is up 17.92 points or 0.1 percent at 16,038.12, the Nasdaq is up 8.15 points or 0.2 percent at 4,070.67 and the S&P 500 is up 4.57 points or 0.3 percent at 1,809.66.

The strength on Wall Street is partly due to the release of a report showing that the Chinese trade surplus rose to its highest level in nearly five years in the month of November.

The report from China's General Administration of Customs said the trade surplus widened to $33.8 billion in November from $31.1 billion in October.

Chinese export growth accelerated to 12.7 percent year-over-year from 5.6 percent in October, while imports rose 5.3 percent, slower than the 7.6 percent growth seen in the previous month.

A separate report from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that Chinese consumer prices rose less than expected in November amid a slowdown in food price inflation.

Nonetheless, traders seem somewhat reluctant to make any significant moves amid a quiet day in terms of major U.S. economic news.

Following the slew of key economic data released last week, the economic calendar is relatively light throughout this week.

While reports on retail sales, jobless claims, and producer prices are likely to attract some attention, the data is not expected to shed much light on the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program.

Later today, trading could be impacted by remarks from several Fed officials, including Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher.

Sector News

After falling sharply over the past few weeks, gold stocks are showing a notable move back to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has advanced by 1.3 percent, bouncing off its worst closing level in five years.

The strength among gold stocks comes amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery climbing $5.50 to $1,234.50 an ounce.

Considerable strength is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Ryland Group (RYL), Lennar (LEN), and Hovnanian (HOV) are turning in some of the sector's best performances.

Steel stocks are also seeing significant strength on the heels of the upbeat news out of China, while most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended the day up by 0.3 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are regaining some ground after trending lower in recent sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.7 basis points at 2.846 percent.