US equity indexes rose midday Monday as semiconductor manufacturers boosted technology ahead of this week's labor market data and quarterly earnings.
The S&P 500 jumped 0.9% to 5,996.2, with the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5% to 19,910.4 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.4% higher at 42,888.4. Communication services and consumer discretionary were among the top gainers.
Chip stocks rallied intraday, with Micron Technology (MU) surging more than 13%, the top gainer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Hon Hai Precision's revenue jumped 42% year-over-year in December to NT$654.8 billion ($19.98 billion), according to a company release on Sunday. Also known as Foxconn, the company manufactures electronic products for major global firms such as Apple (AAPL). Micron is a supplier of chips to Apple. Apple was up 0.7% in recent trading.
"Investors bought into technology stocks on continued optimism around AI and awaited crucial US economic data that will be pivotal in setting expectations for interest rates," a research note from D.A. Davidson said.
This week's data releases include fresh job openings and hiring figures Tuesday. ADP private payrolls and the Dec. 17-18 Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes are due Wednesday. Thursday's schedule includes Challenger layoff intentions, leading to the release of the nonfarm employment report on Friday.
The move higher in interest rates, as reflected by longer-term government bond maturities, has garnered investors' attention, Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead US Economist at Oxford Economics, said in a note.
"A key question is whether home buyers and sellers are getting used to higher mortgage rates or will high rates weigh more heavily than we anticipate on residential investment this year?" Houten said. A sustained break above 7% "could spell trouble" given that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen 22 basis points over the past month.
US Treasury yields traded mixed intraday. The 10-year climbed 2.1 basis points to 4.62%, while the two-year rate fell 1.5 basis points to 4.26%.
Apart from Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), and BlackRock (BLK), other earnings reports that the investors will focus on this week include Delta Air (DAL) and Constellation Brands (STZ).
In economic news Monday, new orders for US factory goods fell by 0.4% in November, as expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, and a revised 0.5% increase in October. Excluding a 3% drop in transportation orders, new orders would have been up 0.2%, the same as in the previous month.
The S&P Global US services index was revised lower to 56.8 in December from the 58.5 flash reading, compared with expectations for no revision in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. It remains above the 56.1 reported in November and a 33-month high.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 0.5% to $73.46 a barrel.
Gold futures slipped 0.3% to $2,647.31 an ounce, while their silver counterpart jumped 1.9% to $30.62 per ounce.
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