US stocks stayed supported after recent array of gains though the Nasdaq settled flat with technology stocks turning in a subdued performance. There’s an optimistic opinion amongst investors regarding Donald Trump's policies such as tax reductions and deregulation will help boost corporate earnings. The volume of business was thin in the absence of economic data and also due to a lack of significant triggers.
Reports on consumer and producer price inflation will be released in a few days attracting attention along with reports on retail sales and industrial production this week.
The Dow settled at 44,293.13, up 304.14 points (0.69%) from previous close. The S&P 500 closed up 5.81 points (0.1%) at 6,001.35. Nasdaq gained 11.99 points (0.06%) settling at 19,298.76.
Tesla climbed about 9%, Salesforce spiked more than 6%, PayPal rallied 4.7%, Starbucks closed up 3.2% and Airbnb gained 2.7%. American Express, Goldman Sachs, United Health, JPMorgan Chase, Walt Disney, Alphabet, Home Depot, Mastercard, Cisco, Visa, Bank of America, Netflix and Nike gained 1 to 2.5%. Apple Inc., Analog Devices, Micron Technoloy and Intel closed weak. Moderna dropped about 7%. Merck, Boeing, Nvidia, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft also ended notably lower.
Asian stocks retreated on Monday since Beijing's latest stimulus fell short of investor expectations and weak inflation data dampened hopes for a significant recovery in the world's second largest economy.
The major European markets closed higher today with investors continuing to assess what could be in store for global markets during Trump's second term.