Stocks have moved sharply higher in morning trading on Monday, with the major averages all showing strong moves to the upside following the starkly mixed performance seen last Friday.
Currently, the Dow is up 624.27 points or 2 percent at 31,556.64, the Nasdaq is up 229.18 points or 1.7 percent at 13,421.52 and the S&P 500 is up 71.66 points or 1.9 percent at 3,882.81.
The rally on Wall Street comes amid a continued pullback by treasury yields, which has helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates.
The yield on the benchmark ten-year note is moving lower for the second straight session after ending last Thursday's trading at its highest closing level in a year.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to news Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) single-shot Covid-19 vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA on Saturday, paving the way for its distribution.
The House of Representatives also passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, adding to optimism about further stimulus.
In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing U.S. manufacturing activity grew at an accelerated rate in the month of February.
The ISM said its manufacturing PMI rose to 60.8 in February from 58.7 in January, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 58.8.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. construction spending increased by much more than anticipated in the month of January.
The Commerce Department said construction spending spiked by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $1.522 trillion in January after jumping by 1.1 percent to a revised rate of $1.497 trillion in December. Economists had expected construction spending to climb by 0.8 percent.
Airline stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside in morning trading, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.7 percent.
Significant strength has also emerged among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Energy stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, moving notably higher along with financial, computer hardware and chemical stocks.
Most of the other major sectors have also moved to the upside on the day, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
The major European markets have also shown strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 1.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the rebound seen over the course of the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.8 basis points at 1.412 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
