Telecom and technology sectors lead gains
U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday, 11 December 2017 with the S&P 500 index and Dow industrials closing at records on the back of a rally in telecommunications and technology shares. Wall Street shrugged off news of a terrorism incident in the heart of New York City earlier in the session, which resulted in no fatalities. Investors mostly looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary-policy meeting, which is slated to conclude Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 56.87 points, or 0.2%, to 24,386.03 and the S&P 500 rose 8.49 points, or 0.3%, to 2,659.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 35 points, or 0.5%, to 6,875.08.
The telecom sector led the gains, and technology shares were lifted by chip makers. On the downside, the financials and industrials sectors finished at the bottom of the sector standings.
Investor attention, however, remained fixed on the two-day Federal Reserve meeting, from which an interest-rate hike has already been widely priced in to financial markets. That looming likely hike has helped to keep nonyielding bullion's price in check as investors show preference for yield-bearing assets. Less certain is how the Fed could approach continued rate increasespolicy makers have penciled in three more next year but doubts from low inflation readings persist.
Ahead of the Fed decision this week, the ICE U.S. Dollar index fell less than 0.1%.
Monday's economic data, which was limited to the October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings decreased to 6.0 million from a revised 6.18 million (from 6.09 million) in September.
Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Monday, 11 December 2017. Gold prices declined on Monday, holding ground at a more than five-month low as gains in U.S. stocks and bitcoin prices dented the metal's investment appeal. U.S. stocks traded mainly higher, with benchmark stock indexes trading at or near records, and interest in popular virtual currency bitcoin high as futures trading in the cryptocurrency made its debut on Sunday.
February gold lost $1.50, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,246.90 an ounce. Gold was down about 2.6% for last week, for a third-straight weekly loss. March silver fell 0.2% to $15.785 an ounce, after losing around 3.5% last week.
U.S. oil prices finished at a more than one-week high on Monday, 11 December 2017 as upbeat economic data helped to raise expectations for crude demand, offsetting some pressure from concerns over growing U.S. production.
February Brent crude rose $1.29, or 2%, to settle at $64.69 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. That was the highest settlement for a front-month contract. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 63 cents, or 1.1% to end at $57.99 a barrel, after losing roughly 1.7% last week.
The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note finished flat at 2.39%, while the 2-yr yield climbed two basis points to 1.82%.
On Tuesday, investors will receive two economic reports--the November Producer Price Index (consensus +0.4%) and the November Treasury Budget (consensus -$134.0 billion)--which will be released at 8:30 ET and 14:00 ET, respectively.
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