Nasdaq, S&P 500 Climb To New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, adding to the strong gains posted last week. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The Nasdaq jumped 207.65 points or 0.9 percent to 22,348.75 and the S&P 500 climbed 30.99 points or 0.5 percent to 6,615.28. The narrower Dow posted a more modest gain, inching up 49.23 points or 0.1 percent to 45,883.45.

The strength on Wall Street came following positive comments from President Donald Trump about trade talks between top U.S. and Chinese officials in Europe.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the talks have "gone VERY WELL!" adding that a "deal was also reached on a "'certain' company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save," likely referring to Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.

Trump also said that he will be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and described the relationship as "a very strong one."

Meanwhile, traders also continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

With recent data showing relatively subdued inflation and a weakening labor market, the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by at least a quarter point.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 96.4 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points and a slim 3.6 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

Currently, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Sector News

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NSYE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 2.5 percent to a record closing high.

Significant strength was also visible among networking stock, as reflected by the 2.3 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Gold, steel and software stocks also saw considerable strength, while airline, oil service and housing stocks showed notable moves the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries regained ground following the pullback seen during last Friday's session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 2.7 basis points to 4.034 percent.

Looking Ahead

While trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to reports on retail sales, industrial production and import and export prices, activity is likely to be somewhat subdued ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.