US close: Stocks rebound after last week's dire performance

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday, as major averages bounced back from their worst week of the year so far.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.22% at 32,889.09, as the S&P 500 added 0.31% to 3,982.24 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.63% at 11,466.98.

The Dow closed 72.17 points higher on Monday, after heavy losses on Friday saw major averages register their worst weekly performance of 2023.

Going into the new week, the year-to-date stock market rally now looks to be fading, with traders starting to come to terms with minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, in which policymakers reiterated their tough stance on inflation, as well as comments from multiple central bankers that seemingly indicated that interest rates could rise higher even still.

“Friday’s PCE shocker certainly gave investors a fright, but the bargain hunters have returned in trading today,” said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp earlier.

“After the ‘good news is bad news’ theme of recent weeks, news of the UK-EU deal on Northern Ireland is one welcome development, and one that doesn’t involve the words ‘inflation’ or ‘interest rates’.

“But with a lighter calendar this week and earnings season firmly winding down it looks like bulls will have the chance to grab control in a way that has eluded them for weeks.

“But the overall outlook still seems to point towards high inflation and continued rate rises, something unlikely to prompt sustained gains for stocks.”

On the economic front, orders for goods made to last more than three years shrank more than expected in January as a surge in jet orders seen at the end of 2022 reversed.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, durable goods orders shrank at a month-on-month pace of 4.5% to reach $272.26bn - worse than the 3.0% drop that economists had pencilled-in and came on top of a downwards revision to the prior month's jump.

Elsewhere, US pending home sales slumped 24.1% year-on-year, according to the National Association of Realtors, a 20th straight monthly decline.

In equities, railroad operator Union Pacific jumped 10.09% after its board bowed to hedge fund demands to dump its chief executive officer.

Seagen was 10.4% firmer, meanwhile, after a report in the Wall Street Journal suggested Pfizer was eyeing up the cancer biotechnology.

Shares in Pfizer were themselves down 2.32% by the closing bell.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com. Additional reporting by Iain Gilbert.

Dow Jones - Risers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $239.98 1.61%
Boeing Co. (BA) $200.46 1.17%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $142.16 0.87%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $147.92 0.82%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $163.10 0.58%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $48.73 0.52%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $365.53 0.46%
3M Co. (MMM) $108.32 0.44%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $264.90 0.42%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $118.53 0.42%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $56.99 -1.38%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.39 -1.15%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.90 -0.95%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $141.44 -0.72%
American Express Co. (AXP) $173.30 -0.55%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.43 -0.48%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $296.01 -0.22%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $155.63 -0.22%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $483.32 -0.21%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $139.12 -0.09%

S&P 500 - Risers

Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) $212.17 9.35%
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH) $40.98 3.38%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $257.46 3.01%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $15.69 2.96%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $53.01 2.91%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $463.49 2.85%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,521.08 2.80%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $201.97 2.75%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $72.02 2.66%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $106.84 2.43%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $12.20 -8.06%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $1.39 -6.71%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $3.40 -4.49%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $77.88 -3.37%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $78.34 -3.04%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $64.25 -2.78%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $28.41 -2.77%
Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $34.73 -2.66%
Alliant Energy Corp. (LNT) $51.41 -2.39%
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) $41.44 -2.33%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Tesla Inc (TSLA) $207.63 5.46%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $139.36 5.17%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $12.06 3.25%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,521.08 2.80%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $106.84 2.43%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,182.99 2.26%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $632.08 2.22%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $196.60 2.16%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $35.49 2.01%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $20.92 1.95%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $12.20 -8.06%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $78.34 -3.04%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $64.25 -2.78%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $55.28 -2.02%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $412.62 -1.71%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $38.51 -1.53%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.39 -1.15%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.90 -0.95%
Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) $19.99 -0.89%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $123.42 -0.74%