Moderate gains for US stocks

Selloff in health-care stocks cap gains

U.S. stocks closed moderately higher on Monday, 21 September 2015 but a selloff in health-care stocks capped gains in the main indexes. Biotech stocks got hit after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would lay out a plan to prevent price gouging by drugmakers. The stock market began the trading week on a higher note despite seeing some intraday volatility. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% while the Nasdaq Composite underperformed throughout the day, but was able to settle just above its flat line.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 125.61 points, or 0.8%, to 16,510.19. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day 1.73 points higher, or less than 0.1%, at 4,828.95. The S&P 500 closed 8.94 points, or 0.5%, higher at 1,966.97.

Within the Dow, 25 of its 30 members closing higher. Merck & Co. and Pfizer led decliners, falling 2.2% and 1.3% respectively.

Equity indices rallied out of the gate with the advance continuing through the first hour of action. All ten sectors took part in the opening move higher, but health care was quick to surrender its gain.

Solid gains in large cap tech names like Apple, Google, and Microsoft masked the relative weakness in chipmaker names.

Strikingly, Treasuries retreated throughout the day, continuing their slide even as stocks retreated from their highs. As a result, the 10-yr note settled on its low with the benchmark yield rising six basis points to 2.21%.

Economic data reported today was limited to the Existing Home Sales report for August, which showed a 4.8% decline to an annualized rate of 5.31 million units while the consensus expected a reading of 5.50 million. Tight supplies and relatively high prices have cut into both demand and affordability conditions.

It was mixed finish for bullions on Monday, 21 September 2015 at comex. Gold futures fell on Monday, giving back some of last week's sizable gains as prospects for a U.S. interest-rate hike later this year helped provide a lift to the U.S. dollar, dulling investment demand for the precious metal. Silver shone.

December gold lost $5, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,132.80 an ounce on Comex. Prices rose 1.9% on Friday to tally a weekly gain of about 3.1% last week after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its latest meeting. December silver meanwhile, edged up by 5.8 cents, or 0.4%, on Monday to $15.221 an ounce.

Crude Oil futures ended higher on Monday, 21 September 2015 at Nymex recouping nearly all of what they lost in the previous session as traders bet on further declines in global crude production. The market has grown concerned that low oil prices have begun to fuel a significant drawdown in U.S. production. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery settled at $46.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $2, or 4.5%.

Today's participation was a bit light with fewer than 800 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 10:00 ET release of the FHFA Housing Price Index for July.

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