US stocks eke out gain after China drop
(AP)Updated: 2007-06-05 14:49
NEW YORK - Wall Street recovered from a mostly down session Monday, eking out a gain as investors brushed off another slide in Chinese stocks.
The market had little in the way of corporate or economic news to give it direction, but while it was in negative territory for much of the day, in the end it shook off an 8.3 percent slide in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index.
The Chinese index had its biggest one-day drop since the Feb. 27 plunge that set off a brief global market selloff as the Chinese government attempts to cool the country's market boom.
 Matthew Murphy, a floor official with Morgan Stanley, monitors stock prices before the start of trading at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, May 31, 2007 in New York. [AP]  |
However, the Commerce Department reported Monday that orders to US factories were weaker than expected in April. Investors might find some information to trade with the release of the Institute of Supply Management's service sector index on Tuesday, but not much other information is expected.
"I think you're seeing a combination of investors wanting to take some profit on a Monday morning, and some fear because of what happened in China," said Ryan Detrick, a senior technical strategist for Schaffer's Investment Research. "There's really no major drivers in the market, so we're really just meandering along."
The Dow rose 8.21, or 0.06 percent, to 13,676.32.
Broader stock indicators were also narrowly higher. The S&P 500 index rose 2.84, or 0.18 percent, to 1,539.18, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.37, or 0.17 percent, to 2,618.29.
The Dow and S&P again snagged record closes Monday, and the S&P moved closer to its trading high of 1,552.87, set in March 2000. Last week, the Dow posted a 1.19 percent gain; the S&P 500 index rose 1.36 percent; and the Nasdaq composite index added 2.22 percent.
The bond market moved higher, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling to 4.93 percent from 4.96 percent late Friday. The Commerce Department report had some impact on the bond market on hopes weaker data will mean an interest rate cut this year. The report showed 0.3 percent in manufacturing growth in April, and economists expected a rise of 0.7 percent after a 3.1 percent jump in March.
The dollar slipped against other major currencies, while gold prices also fell.
Oil prices rose after a Nigerian militant group announced a one-month cease-fire, and a US gasoline pipeline was restarted. A barrel of light sweet crude rose $1.13 to $66.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke, said the near term will be dominated by higher energy prices and bond yields - two catalysts that could cause the equities market to pull back. He believes there's complacency among investors, and that the market will need a correction before resuming an advance later in the summer.
"As investors look ahead, we're past the earnings season, the Fed seems to be out of the way for the moment, and we've had a run-up in equities prices over the past few months," he said, referring to the Federal Reserve's current policy of stable interest rates.
"Given continued uncertainty in the housing sector, and
rising energy and food prices, it appears likely to us that we should have a
period of consolidation or profit taking before the market turns higher again."
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