Stocks are seeing modest strength in early trading on Monday, partly offsetting the steep losses posted in recent sessions. The major averages have moved to the upside, bouncing off the four-month closing lows set last Friday.
The major averages are currently posting moderate gains, near their highs for the young session. The Dow is up 48.55 points or 0.4 percent at 12,417.93, the Nasdaq is up 10.67 points or 0.4 percent at 2,789.46 and the S&P 500 is up 5.50 points or 0.4 percent at 1,300.72.
Bargain hunting is contributing to the early strength on Wall Street, with some traders picking up stocks at reduced levels following the recent weakness. Nonetheless, buying interest has remained subdued amid lingering concerns about the financial situation in Europe.
Resource stocks are turning in some of the best performances in early trading, with considerable strength visible among gold stocks. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is up by 2 percent, climbing further off the two-year low set last Tuesday.
Steel, oil service, and natural gas stocks are also seeing significant strength, regaining some ground after falling sharply in recent weeks.
While strength is also visible among railroad and biotechnology, some weakness has emerged among housing and retail stocks.
Among individual stocks, shares of Facebook (FB) have come under pressure in early trading, with the social media giant tumbling by 11.6 percent following its glitch-plagued debut on Friday.
Lowe's (LOW) is also posting a steep loss after the home improvement retailer reported better than expected first quarter results but lowered its full year earnings guidance.
Meanwhile shares of Yahoo (YHOO) are modestly higher after the online media giant announced that it is selling up to half of its stake in Alibaba back to the Chinese e-commerce company for about $7.1 billion.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended the day down by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are up by 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing moderate weakness after rising sharply in recent sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.4 basis points at 1.736 percent.
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