U.S. Market Indexes Regain Losses from Last Week

U.S. market indexes were higher Monday following the global trend despite some disappointing data that kept stocks trading volatilely. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,710.71 for a gain of 175.39 points or 1.00 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2,066.66 for a gain of 20.05 points or 0.98 percent. The Nasdaq Composite also gained at 4,775.46 for a gain of 57.78 points or 1.22 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Monday’s Market Movers

Stocks managed to gain Monday despite a lower than expected report from the Empire State Manufacturing Index and disappointing data from China. On Monday, the Empire State Manufacturing Index reported a decrease of -9.02, far below consensus of 7.00. In China, industrial output increased by 6 percent year-over-year in April, missing estimates of 6.6 percent and falling below the previous month’s reading of 6.8 percent. Retail sales in China were also lower than expectations with a year-over-year increase of 10.1 percent in April and down from 10.5 percent in March.

Monday also included the Housing Market Index which reported on home builder optimism. The Housing Market Index report was in line with expectations at 58 versus consensus of 59 and unchanged from the previous month.

Large-cap stocks leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher included the following:

Apple 3.71 percent

DuPont 2.26 percent

Cisco 1.70 percent

The Home Depot 1.67 percent

Wal-Mart 1.65 percent

On watch for the week will be Home Depot, Cisco and Wal-Mart which will all be reporting earnings later this week.

On Monday, Yahoo! also traded higher after reportedly narrowing its bidders for a buyout to include an investing group supported by Warren Buffet and Verizon. For the day Yahoo! was up 2.74 percent to $37.48.

Technology stocks were also higher Monday as the Nasdaq Composite closed at 4,775.46 for a gain of 57.78 points or 1.22 percent and the Nasdaq 100 closed at 4,380.28 for a gain of 53.75 points or 1.24 percent. In the technology sector the top gainers in the Nasdaq 100 were the following:

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals 6.09 percent

NetEase Inc. 5.36 percent

Baidu Inc. 5.18 percent

Biomarin Pharmaceutical 4.55 percent

Incyte Corp. 4.45 percent

Liberty Global 3.73 percent

Apple 3.71 percent

Alexion Pharmaceuticals 3.46 percent

Mylan NV 3.29 percent

In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.08 percent. The U.S. Dollar Index was unchanged at 94.57.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,116.21 for a gain of 13.77 points or 1.25 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 684.15 for a gain of 6.85 points or 1.01 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 6,832.15 for a gain of 84.63 points or 1.25 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM closed at 8,133.81 for a gain of 77.43 points or 0.96 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1,454.78 for a gain of 14.18 points or 0.98 percent; the Russell 3000 which closed at 1,215.56 for a gain of 12.03 points or 1.0 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 588.44 for a gain of 3.94 points or 0.67 percent.