After showing a lack of direction early in the session, the major U.S. stock indexes are turning in a mixed performance in afternoon trading on Monday. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have moved to the upside, the narrower Dow is lingering in negative territory.
Currently, the Nasdaq is up 74.02 points or 0.6 percent at 13,314.78 and the S&P 500 is up 11.07 points or 0.3 percent at 4,293.44, but the Dow is down 87.83 points or 0.3 percent at 33,674.93.
The advance by the Nasdaq and S&P 500 is partly due to a notable gain by Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant jumping by 1.8 percent to a record intraday high.
Shares of Apple are moving higher as the company holds its annual developer’s conference, where it is expected to unveil its virtual reality headset.
The mixed performance on Wall Street comes as some traders look to take a break to assess the outlook for the markets following the strong upward move seen last Thursday and Friday.
The rally came amid the passage of legislation raising the U.S. debt ceiling and the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report.
With the surge, the Nasdaq reached its best closing level in well over a year, while the S&P 500 set a new nine-month closing high.
Trading activity may remain somewhat subdued throughout the week as traders look ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.
The Fed is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision next Wednesday, with the central bank widely expected to pause its recent series of interest rate hikes.
Key inflation reports are also likely to be in the spotlight next week, as the data could impact whether the Fed resumes its rate hikes next month.
In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing service sector activity in the U.S. saw only modest growth in the month of May, with the index of activity in the sector falling by more than expected.
The ISM said its services PMI fell to 50.3 in May from 51.9 in April, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 51.5.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased by slightly less than expected in the month of April.
The report said factory orders rose by 0.4 percent in April after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.6 percent in March.
Economists had expected factory orders to climb by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.9 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, although considerable weakness is visible among networking stocks.
The NYSE Arca Network Index is down by 1.4 percent after ending last Friday’s trading at its best closing level in well over a month.
Semiconductor stocks are also seeing notable weakness on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.2 percent.
Oil service, transportation and brokerage stocks are also seeing some weakness, while strength has emerged among software and chemical stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.5 basis points at 3.706 percent.
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