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Wall Street Starts the Week on a Positive Note
05-Mar-18 16:20 ET
Dow +336.70 at 24874.76, Nasdaq +72.84 at 7330.70, S&P +29.69 at 2720.94

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/3/5/wall-street-starts-the-week-on-a-positive-note.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Equities opened the week with a comfortable victory on Monday, reclaiming around half of last week's losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the rally, jumping 1.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively, and the small-cap Russell 2000 added 0.8%.

The threat of a trade war was still on investors' minds on Monday morning, leading to a lower open on Wall Street, but House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) helped ease concerns by publicly opposing the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that President Trump proposed last week. Mr. Trump responded by saying that he was "not backing down" from his plan, but he did leave a door cracked for Canada and Mexico, saying that the two countries may be able to sidestep the tariffs if they agree to a "new and fair" NAFTA deal.

The S&P 500 opened with a loss of around 0.6%, but started climbing about an hour into the session. The benchmark index eventually finished just a tick below session high, with each of its eleven sectors settling in positive territory. The utilities group (+2.0%) led the charge, but the influential financial sector (+1.4%) wasn't far behind. The heavily-weighted health care and technology spaces were the weakest performers, but still finished with gains of 0.9% apiece.

In corporate news, the U.S. government ordered Qualcomm (QCOM 64.01, -0.73) to delay its much-anticipated shareholder meeting, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, as it reviews Broadcom's (AVGO 246.98, -3.89) hostile bid to takeover the company. The shareholder meeting was expected to feature a vote on whether to replace six of 11 directors with nominees put forth by Broadcom. Bloomberg reported on Monday afternoon that Broadcom was on track to win the six seats.

Overseas, equity indices in Europe finished mostly higher, but Italy's MIB (-0.4%) underperformed after Sunday's national elections failed to produce a clear winner. Meanwhile, in Germany, the CDU and SPD parties agreed on their governing coalition, thereby removing any leadership uncertainty in Europe's largest and most influential economy.

In Asia, stock markets finished on a mixed note, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-2.3%) showing relative weakness.

Investors received just one piece of economic data on Monday, the ISM Services Index for February, which came in better than expected (59.5 actual vs 58.8 Briefing.com consensus). The key takeaway from the report is that business activity in the non-manufacturing sector is still running at a healthy level, which is contributing to rising costs.

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%. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude futures rallied 2.2% to $62.56 per barrel as energy leaders from around the globe headed to Houston for CERAWeek.