Major Averages Close Mixed Following Lackluster Session - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Following the lackluster performance seen last week, stocks continued to show a lack of direction during trading on Monday.

The major averages eventually ended the session mixed. While the Dow dipped 13.83 points or 0.1 percent to 25,044.29, the Nasdaq rose 12.67 points or 0.3 percent to 7,841.87 and the S&P 500 inched up 5.15 points or 0.2 percent to 2,806.98.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of a report from the National Association of Realtors showing an unexpected drop in existing home sales in the month of June.

NAR said existing home sales fell by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 5.36 million in June from a downwardly revised rate of 5.41 million in May. Economists had expected existing home sales to climb by 0.5 percent.

"There continues to be a mismatch since the spring between the growing level of homebuyer demand in most of the country in relation to the actual pace of home sales, which are declining," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

He added, "The root cause is without a doubt the severe housing shortage that is not releasing its grip on the nation's housing market."

The unexpected drop in existing home sales came as declines in the South and West exceeded sales gains in the Northeast and Midwest.

While most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, considerable weakness was visible among oil service stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 2.2 percent.

Gold and housing stocks also moved to the downside, while significant strength was visible among financial and steel stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasures extended the downward move seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price jumped by 7 basis points to 2.965 percent.

Looking Ahead

Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) TD Ameritrade (AMTD), and Whirlpool (WHR) are among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today's trading,

3M (MMM), Biogen (BIIB), Eli Lilly (LLY), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Verizon (VZ) are also among the companies due to report their quarterly results before the start of trading on Tuesday.