WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving to the upside at the start of trading, stocks have given back ground over the course of the session on Monday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Dow and the S&P 500 dipping into negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 80.60 points or 0.3 percent at 23,805.56, the S&P 500 is down 2.01 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 6,838.19 and the Dow is down 284.88 points or 0.6 percent at 47,277.99.
The gain by the tech-heavy Nasdaq partly reflects a sharp increase by shares of Amazon (AMZN), with the online retail giant surging by 4.8 percent.
Amazon is extending last Friday's rally after announcing a $38 billion agreement with OpenAI that provides Amazon Web Services' world-class infrastructure to run and scale OpenAI's core artificial intelligence workloads.
AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) is also jumping by 2.6 percent after software giant Microsoft (MSFT) revealed it has secured export licenses from the Trump administration to ship Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates.
On the other hand, a 3.3 percent slump by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) is weighing on the Dow along with notable declines by Nike (NKE), Merck (MRK) and Chevron (CVX).
Traders may also be reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of payroll processor ADP's report on private sector employment on Wednesday.
With the ongoing government shutdown indefinitely delaying several key U.S. economic reports, the ADP report could shed light on the strength of the labor market amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.
In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in the month of October.
The ISM said its manufacturing PMI slipped to 48.7 in October after edging up to 49.1 in September, with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 49.5.
Sector News
Biotechnology stocks have shown a significant move to the downside, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index slumping by 2.0 percent after ending last Friday's trading at a record closing high.
Considerable weakness is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
Computer hardware, networking and steel stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while retail stocks are extending last Friday's rally amid the surge by Amazon.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Monday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while South Korea's Kospi shot up by 2.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries continue to show a lack of direction after ending last Friday's trading roughly flat. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.105 percent.
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