Indices bounce back from four session losing streak
U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday, 05 March 2018 with the Dow Jones Industrial Average bouncing back from a four-session losing streak, as investors looked beyond the threat of a global trade war and instead focused on positive economic data.
The Dow bounced back from an earlier decline to rise 336.70 points, or 1.4%, to 24,874.76. The S&P 500 index rose 29.69 points, or 1.1%, to 2,720.94, with all 11 subsectors finishing higher, led by utilities and financials. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 72.84 points, or 1%, to 7,330.70.
Meanwhile, the Italian elections on Sunday that produced no clear winner threw fresh uncertainty into the marketplace. Voters delivered a hung parliament on Sunday and if early tabulations are confirmed, none of Italy's three main political parties will be able to rule alone.
Strength in the dollar on Monday, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index up 0.1% to 90.06, weighed on commodities, which are traded in the greenback. The dollar index had touched six-week highs last week on a fortified outlook for continued U.S. interest-rate hikes this year before trade concerns knocked the buck lower Thursday and Friday.
Among economic data expectded for tje dy. The Markit services purchasing managers index for February came in at 55.9, compared with 53.3 that was expected and 59.9 in the previous month. Meanwhile, the more closely watched Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing index for February slipped to 59.5 from 59.9 a month earlier a level that still signals rapid growth in service-sector activity.
Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Monday, 05 March 2018. Gold prices finished with a loss on Monday, as pressure from a firmer U.S. dollar and gains in the stock market offset earlier haven support from jitters about a potential trade war and uncertainty for the European Union following Italy's divisive election.
April gold shed $3.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,319.90 an ounce after an earlier high near $1,329. The contract has been volatile considering that gold prices had settled at their lowest levels of the year just last Thursday, after recording the first monthly loss last month since October. May silver also fell 5.4 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.412 an ounce.
Crude oil prices settled higher on Monday, 05 March 2018 tallying their largest single-session dollar and percentage gain in nearly three weeks, following a reported drop in crude stocks at the U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Okla.nPrices had seen some support from reports of temporary supply disruptions in Libya over the weekend and traders weighed comments from the International Energy Agency on U.S. production and global demand growth.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.32, or 2.2%, to settle at $62.57 a barrel. May Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, added $1.17, or 1.8%, to $65.54 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange.
Data reportedly show a sizable decline in last week's crude supplies at Cushing, which notes that supplies at the key pipeline hub are already at their lowest level since 2014.
Outside of equities, U.S. Treasuries finished Monday on a lower note, pushing yields higher across the curve; the benchmark 10-yr yield climbed two basis points to 2.88%.
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