U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher After Initial Pullback

(RTTNews) - After moving to the downside early in the session, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday. The major averages have climbed well off their lows of the session and into positive territory, with the Dow reaching a record intraday high.

Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq is up 137.73 points or 0.6 percent at 23,168.95, the S&P 500 is up 24.93 points or 0.4 percent at 6,957.23 and the Dow is up 42.42 points or 0.1 percent at 50,158.09.

The strength that has emerged on Wall Street partly reflects an extended rebound by tech stocks, which helped the strong upward move seen last Friday.

Software giant Oracle (ORCL) has helped lead the sector higher, spiking by 9.3 percent after D.A. Davidson upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral.

However, traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of several key U.S. economic reports in the coming days.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is likely to be in the spotlight.

The report is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.

Reports on retail sales and consumer price inflation are also likely to attract attention, as the data could impact the outlook for interest rates.

"With Jerome Powell nearing the end of his term and Kevin Warsh widely expected to take over as Fed Chair, markets are increasingly sensitive to how data influences rate expectations," said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com. "While leadership changes may affect tone and communication, the data remains the ultimate driver."

She added, "As a result, the employment and inflation releases this week will be critical in determining whether markets lean back into expectations of easing — a scenario that could support equities and precious metals — or whether sticky inflation forces continued restraint."

Sector News

Gold stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 4.4 percent.

Significant strength is also visible among networking and software stocks, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index surging by 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Brokerage and semiconductor stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, while healthcare and transportation stocks have moved to the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 3.9 percent, while South Korea's Kospi spiked by 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries continue to show a lack of direction after ending last Friday's trading roughly flat. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.214 percent.