Overseas Strength Contributes To Gains On Wall Street - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher in early trading on Monday after seeing considerable volatility in the previous week. The major averages have climbed firmly in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq nearly reaching a new record high.

In recent trading, the major averages have pulled back off their best levels, but they are holding on to gains. The Dow is up 105.67 points or 0.6 percent at 18,229.47, the Nasdaq is up 26.08 points or 0.5 percent at 5,270.65 and the S&P 500 is up 12.13 points or 0.6 percent at 2,151.29.

The early upward move on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to the strength in overseas markets on the day.

An increase by the price of crude oil has also generated some buying interest, with crude for October delivery jumping $1.02 to $44.05 a barrel after slumping $2.85 or 6.2 percent to $43.03 a barrel last week.

Nonetheless, overall trading activity has remained somewhat subdued ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

Following a two-day meeting beginning on Tuesday, the Fed is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision Wednesday afternoon.

Recent soft economic data has led most analysts to predict that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged, but the central bank could still surprise the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing a jump in homebuilder confidence in the month of September.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index surged up to 65 in September from a downwardly revised 59 in August.

Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared to the 60 originally reported for the previous month.

With the substantial increase, the housing market index reached its highest level since hitting a matching reading in October of 2015.

Steel stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside in early trading, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 3.1 percent. U.S. Steel (X) and AK Steel (AKS) are posting notable gains.

Networking, housing, and oil service stocks are also seeing significant strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Monday, although the Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.8 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 1.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries continue to turn in a lackluster performance after ending last Friday's trading nearly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 1.700 percent.