U.S. market indexes were higher Monday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,223.03 for a gain of 77.32 points or 0.43%. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at 2,151.33 for a gain of 10.17 points or 0.47%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 5,309.83 for a gain of 52.42 points or 1.00%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 12.99 for a loss of 0.35 points or 2.62%.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
- Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) 2.25%.
- Boeing (BA, Financial) 1.34%.
- Walmart (WMT, Financial) 1.24%.
- 3M (MMM, Financial) 1.04%.
- Cisco (CSCO, Financial) 1.03%.
- Coca-Cola (KO, Financial) 1.02%.
- Visa (V, Financial) 1.00%.
- Home Depot (HD, Financial) 0.93%.
- Apple (AAPL, Financial) 0.88%.
Stocks were higher Monday with positive corporate earnings, higher yields, numerous merger announcements and strong economic data. The economic reports on Monday included the Chicago Fed National Activity Index and the PMI Manufacturing Index Flash report. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index improved to -0.14 from -0.55. The PMI Manufacturing Index Flash was reported at 53.2, up from 51.4.
A CNBC report with Jim Cramer gave insight on the leading merger deal of the day, AT&T (T, Financial) and Time Warner (TWX, Financial).
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks included in this article.
Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.
