US close: Stocks finish higher on strong jobs data
US stocks finished higher on Monday as investor sentiment continued to be lifted by last Friday’s strong jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.44%, the S&P 500 rose 0.34% and the Nasdaq edged up 0.64%.
In contrast, oil prices headed south on renewed concerns about a global supply glut after data on Friday from industry group Baker Hughes showed the number rigs looking for oil in the US rose by 10 to a total of 351.
West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.1% to $44.44 per barrel and Brent fell 1.6% to $46.00 per barrel at 2112 BST.
The non-farm payrolls report on Friday showed employers added 287,000 jobs in June, smashing forecasts for a 170,000 gain.
Many analysts said, however, that the strong jobs report is unlikely to persuade the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates any time soon in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote and low inflation.
“Friday’s payrolls beat has provided a more bullish market outlook, with the Brexit fears meaning that the US jobs report has been taken as a good news story for the economy rather than something which will have any material affect to rate expectations,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.
Kansas City Fed President Esther George said in a speech in Lake Ozark, Mo. on Monday that she believes the Fed is keeping interest rates too low given the progress the US economy has made.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester is also due to speak about financial stability after the closing bell in Sydney, Australia.
Elsewhere, Asian markets rallied after Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared victory in Sunday’s election, saying he would push ahead with Abenomics – his economic reform programme. The news fuelled speculation that Abe would introduce further stimulus measures to revive the flagging Japanese economy.
In company news, Alcoa shares jumped as it unofficially kicked off the new earnings season with second quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations.
Cintas Corp. is also due to post results after hours.
Banks report results later in the week with JPMorgan Chase & Co. the first of the major US lenders to post earnings on Thursday.
Shares of Nintendo Co. gained as its Pokemon Go mobile app was well received.
Kinder Morgan Inc. edged higher after the energy-infrastructure company said Sunday it is selling a stake in a 7,600-mile natural-gas pipeline system to Southern Co. for $1.47bn.
Twitter Inc. declined after analysts at Monness Crespi Hardt downgraded stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.
Amazon.com was on the front foot ahead of the online retail giant's Prime Day sales event on Tuesday.
S&P 500 - Risers
United States Steel Corp. (X) $20.01 +5.15%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $94.10 +4.85%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $210.39 +4.69%
Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) $87.78 +4.21%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $11.65 +4.02%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $28.45 +3.95%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $31.16 +3.73%
Textron Inc. (TXT) $38.24 +3.38%
Navient Corporation (NAVI) $13.11 +3.31%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $10.14 +3.26%
S&P 500 - Fallers
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $71.86 -3.45%
Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) $29.74 -3.00%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $11.78 -2.97%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $154.00 -2.62%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $94.67 -2.46%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $44.36 -1.86%
Crown Castle International (CCI) $100.54 -1.62%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $98.07 -1.57%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $43.44 -1.56%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $103.41 -1.54%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Boeing Co. (BA) $132.04 +1.50%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $152.19 +1.20%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.38 +1.12%
American Express Co. (AXP) $62.16 +1.09%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $64.24 +0.86%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $62.27 +0.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $135.15 +0.60%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.39 +0.59%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $29.43 +0.58%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $122.00 +0.57%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $140.32 -0.67%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $85.75 -0.02%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $59.34 -0.02%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $21.76 +5.04%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $167.03 +4.52%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $31.16 +3.73%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $224.78 +3.69%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $41.78 +2.88%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $64.64 +2.75%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $43.16 +2.62%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $52.02 +2.30%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $42.20 +2.20%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $86.33 +1.71%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $88.59 -3.17%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $94.67 -2.46%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $44.36 -1.86%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $103.41 -1.54%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $17.16 -1.49%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $25.25 -1.44%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $139.64 -1.14%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $277.86 -0.98%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $113.30 -0.97%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $60.10 -0.86%