US close: Stocks start off H2 trading with modest gains

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday after the second half of the trading year initially got off to a mixed start, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite later recovering from earlier losses.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13% at 39,169.52, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.27% to 5,475.09 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.83% firmer at 17,879.30.

The Dow closed 50.66 points higher on Monday, reversing losses recorded in the previous session.

On the macro slate for Monday, S&P Global's June manufacturing PMI was revised slightly lower on Monday, dropping from a preliminary reading of 51.7 to 51.6, but remained the highest reading seen in three months.

Elsewhere, last month's Institute for Supply Management manufacturing PMI unexpectedly dropped to 48.5, down from 48.7 in May, short of expectations for a reading of 49.1, and marking a third-straight monthly decline.

Finally, construction spending dipped 0.1% month-on-month in May, according to the Census Bureau, hitting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.14bn. Private spending shrank 0.3%, while public spending rose 0.5%.

In the corporate space, Chewy shares were down more than 6% after regulatory paperwork showed that Reddit trader 'Roaring Kitty' had snapped up 9.0m shares in the company, while Spirit Aerosystems traded higher on the back of news that aeronautical giant Boeing would buy back the fuselage maker.

Markets will be closed on Thursday in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com