Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Monday, giving back ground after turning in a strong performance last week. The major averages have all moved to the downside, adding to the slim losses posted in the previous session.
Currently, the major averages are off their lows of the session but still in the red. The Dow is down 225.69 points or 0.5 percent at 48,485.28, the Nasdaq is down 155.40 points or 0.7 percent at 23,437.69 and the S&P 500 is down 29.53 points or 0.4 percent at 6,900.41.
The pullback on Wall Street may reflect profit taking, as some traders look to cash in on recent gains going into the end of the year.
Partly reflecting renewed strength among tech stocks, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended last Wednesday's trading at record closing highs before edging slightly lower last Friday.
The major averages all posted strong gains for the Christmas-interrupted week. While the S&P 500 shot up by 1.4 percent, the Dow and the Nasdaq both jumped by 1.2 percent.
A pullback by big-name tech companies is also weighing on the markets, with Nvidia (NVDA) and Oracle (ORCL) showing notable moves to the downside.
Overall trading activity appears somewhat subdued, however, as some traders remain away from their desks ahead of the New Year's Day holiday on Thursday.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the National Association of Realtors showed pending home sales in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of November.
NAR said its pending home sales index spiked by 3.3 percent to 79.2 in November after surging by 2.4 percent to an upwardly revised 76.7 in October.
Economists had expected pending home sales to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.9 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Gold stocks are seeing substantial weakness amid a sharp pullback by the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plunging by 6.0 percent after ending last Friday's trading at a record closing high.
Significant weakness is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Computer hardware and steel stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while oil producer stocks have moved to the upside along with the price of crude oil.
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 fell by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index crept slightly higher and South Korea's Kospi surged by 2.2 percent.
Meanwhile, European stocks have moved slightly higher on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is just above the unchanged line.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength after ending last Friday's trading roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.2 basis points at 4.124 percent.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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