Nasdaq Rallies Amid Tech and Pharma Gains; Consumer Confidence Drops

Semiconductor and pharmaceutical stocks fuel Nasdaq's 1% rise while durable goods orders and consumer confidence report show mixed economic signals.

The Nasdaq jumped 192.29 points (1%) to 19,764.89, the S&P 500 climbed 43.22 points (0.7%) to 5,974.07 and the S&P 500 rose 66.69 points (0.2%) to 42,906.95.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced amid a rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 3.1%. Computer hardware stocks saw significant strength as reflected by the 1.5% gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Pharmaceutical stocks performed well, driving the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index up by 2.1%.

The Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods slumped by much more than expected in the month of November. Durable goods orders tumbled by 1.1% in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.8% in October. Excluding a steep drop by orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.1% in November after inching up by 0.2% in October. Ex-transportation orders were expected to rise by 0.3%. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a key indicator of business spending, climbed by 0.7% in November after dipping by 0.1% in October.

 

Conference Board stated an unexpected deterioration by consumer confidence in the month of December. Its consumer confidence index tumbled to 104.7% in December from an upwardly revised 112.8 in November.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2% while Hong Kong's Hang's Seng Index advanced by 0.8%. the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.2%, the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the downside following the rebound seen last Friday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 7.5 bps to a nearly seven-month closing high of 4.59%.

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