Wall Street started the trading week off with a thunderous start as all three major benchmarks rose sharply due to more strong economic data pointing towards fast recovery. The Nasdaq led the bullish rally with both the index and major tech companies breaking record closing highs.
The Institute for Supply Management's (I.S.M.) monthly index on U.S. non-manufacturing industry activity broke into expansionary territory on Monday, reported a faster than expected service sector rebound. The I.S.M. purchasing managers' index rose to 57.1 in June from May's reading of 45.4, the highest reading in fourth months following the coronavirus pandemic's impact.
Moreover, IHS Markit's final June print for the U.S. services purchasing managers' index was upwardly revised to 47.9 in June form the 46.7 previously reported. While the reading still indicated a contraction from the neutral level of 50, this is the highest reading since February. contracting but highest since February.
"The survey points to a strong initial rebound from the low point seen at the height of the pandemic lockdown in April, with indicators of output, demand, exports and employment all showing steep gains. Financial services and technology companies are not reporting improved demand, as are many consumer-facing companies. Many, however, remain constrained by social distancing measures," IHS Markit's Chief Business Economist Chris Williamson stated in the report.
While economic data continues to exceed expectations in recent weeks, the increasing coronavirus infection rates across the United States is still affecting investment sentiment. On Monday, economists from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) lowered their forecast for U.S. gross domestic product growth for 2020 due to the resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks that are no where close to containment.
Here's how the market settled to start the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.59% or +49.70 points to 3,179.71
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.78% or +459.67 to 26,287.03
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +2.21% or +226.02 to 10,433.65
For Major Stock News, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares surged above the $3,000 level for the first time ever on Monday. Other tech gainers included Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MFST), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM). Uber (NYSE: UBER) announced it will buy Postmates for $2.65 billion in stock.
For Stock Sectors, almost every industry took part in Monday's rally, with only Utilities lagging behind with a performance loss of 1.28%. The performance gains were as follows: Consumer Discretionary +3.22%, Communication Services +2.15%, Financials +1.95%, Information Technology +1.80%, Industrials +1.48%, materials +1.44%, Health Care +1.01%, Consumer Staples +0.53%, Energy +0.32% and Real Estate +0.195.
For Commodities and Currency, crude oil prices settled mostly flat on Monday as strong economic data balanced out future demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) closed slightly lower at under $41 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) increased slightly to settle at $43 each. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices rallied on Monday due mostly to mixed investor sentiment. Spot gold rose 0.5% to about $1,784 per ounce and futures climbed to $1,794 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) was pressured lower on Monday, with the DXY Index declining 0.4%.
For Tuesday, market participants will focus on jobs openings data for May as well as more coronavirus news.