U. S. stock indexes gave up some of an early gain and are mostly higher in morning trading Monday. Investors bid up shares in big…
U. S. stock indexes gave up some of an early gain and are mostly higher in morning trading Monday. Investors bid up shares in big department store chains and industrial companies. Energy stocks climbed along with the price of U. S. crude oil. Technology stocks lagged the market.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,852 as of 11:05 a.m. Eastern Time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 78 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,747. The Nasdaq composite fell 21 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,794. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,691.
TRADE TENSIONS: Investors have been feeling cautiously optimistic about the prospects for an end to the trade dispute between the U. S. and China, which has led to costly, dueling tariffs between the two nations. Hopes rose late last week on news that China will send an envoy to Washington this month to discuss a way out of the standoff before President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in November.
RETAIL RALLY: Investors bid up shares in several department store chains. Kohl’s picked up 2.8 percent to $78.57, while Macy’s added 2.5 percent to $36.94. Nordstrom rose 2.4 percent to $60.60. Gap gained 2 percent to $31.91.
GETTING FIZZY: SodaStream jumped 9.7 percent to $142.45 after PepsiCo agreed to buy the Israeli fizzy drink maker for $3.2 billion.
A GOOD LOOK: Estee Lauder climbed 3.7 percent to $140.96 after the cosmetics company reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street’s forecasts. The company benefited from better-than-expected global sales, particularly in Asia.
ZAPPED: Tesla fell 0.6 percent to $303.56 after analysts at JPMorgan cut their price target on the electric car maker.
TECH SLIDE: Shares in technology companies lagged the broader market. Advanced Micro Devices fell 1.4 percent to $19.49.
BOND YIELDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.83 percent from 2.87 percent late Friday.
ENERGY: U. S. benchmark crude rose 32 cents to $66.23 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, added 64 cents to $72.47 per barrel in London.
The pickup in oil prices helped lift energy sector stocks. Baker Hughes gained 2 percent to $31.64.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 110.43 yen from 110.60 yen late Friday. The euro weakened to $1.1437 from $1.1443.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX added 1.1 percent, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.9 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.6 percent. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gave up 0.3 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was little changed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4 percent. Shares also rose in Taiwan.
