Benchmarks closed mixed on Monday as investors waited for more economic data to determine the course of economic recovery. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow fell short of reaching record high, and instead closed in the red, however, the Nasdaq managed to finish in the green yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 126.15 points, or 0.4%, to close at 34,630.24 and the S&P 500 shed 3.37 points, or 0.1%, to close at 4,226.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 13,881.72, adding 7.23 points, or 0.5%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed unchanged at 16.42. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones for 1.35-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while a 1.82-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq favored advancers.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow shed more than 100 points on Monday after crossing May 7’s all-time closing high at 34,777.76, earlier during the session. The blue-chip index was weighed down by around 1.7% decline in shares of Merck & Co., Inc.
MRK
and Caterpillar Inc.
CAT
. Caterpillar sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Although the S&P 500 closed in the red, it was not far off from its record close at 4,232.60, on May 7. Seven of the 11 major sectors of the broader index closed in the red, led by a 1.2% decline in the materials sector, and followed by more the 0.6% decline in industrials and financials.
Nasdaq, the only index to close in the positive territory on Monday, with biggies like Facebook, Inc.
FB
, Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
and Tesla, Inc.
TSLA
closing 1.9%, 1.2% and 1%, higher, respectively. Among the Nasdaq’s biggest gainers were Peloton Interactive, Inc.
PTON
and Moderna, Inc.
MRNA
that jumped 6.6% higher.
Additionally, meme stocks were back in focus on Monday, shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
AMC
, BlackBerry Limited
BB
and GameStop Corp.
GME
closed 14.8%, 13.8% and 12.7% higher for the session, respectively.
Overall, the S&P 500 posted 62 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 168 new highs and 21 new lows. A total of 10.52 billion shares were traded yesterday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.71 billion.
Investors Await May Inflation Data
Inflation has been a major concern for investors over the past month as the economy rebounds from the pandemic. On Monday, markets remained volatile as investors eyed the release of May’s inflation data on June 10. Investors have focused on signs of a slower pace of economic recovery after May’s employment report fell short of expectation. In fact, employers had expressed difficulties in filling in vacancy due to shortage of skilled labor and unwillingness of people to join, owing to the lingering fear of pandemic and the generous unemployment benefits.
Investors also kept track of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting held over the weekend. The group of advanced economies agreed to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%. This is an attempt to discourage multinational companies from avoiding taxes, which many do by hoarding profit in low-rate countries.
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