US open: Dow jumps over 130 points, as investors await raft of Fed speakers

US stocks gained ground early on Monday, as Wall Street looked to overcome last week's Federal Reserve-driven volatility.

Shortly after 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 139 points to 16,523.58, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were 12 and 31 points higher respectively.

All eyes on the Fed

“The Fed’s negative tone following its decision not to raise rates on Thursday is weighing on investor sentiment,” said Oanda’s senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

“Many influential people had been calling for the Fed to leave rates unchanged due to the impact it could have on emerging markets at a time when we’d already seen a fair amount of volatility.”

On Monday investors will focus on the speech of Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart, who will speak in Atlanta at 1800 BST.

Lockhart, a voting member of the FOMC, is the first of a number of Fed officials speaking this week, with Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen due to address investors on Thursday.

Over the weekend, St Louis Fed president James Bullard revealed he was in favour of hiking interest rates as he believed the economy had shown sufficient signs of recovery to justify the move.

Meanwhile, John Williams, the president of the San Francisco Fed said it would be an “appropriate step” for the US central bank to hike rates before the end of the year.

Monday data

According to the figures, existing home sales declined 4.8% month-on-month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.31m, compared with consensus for a decline to 5.50m.

Last month’s reading was revised up down from 5.59m to 5.58m, which remains the highest level in eight years.

Median home prices rose 4.7% over the past 12 months to $228,700.

In company news, Apple climbed 0.84% and could be in focus after the Wall Street Journal reported some of China’s most popular names in Apple’s App Store were infected with malware.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks closed mostly lower as volatility returned to the region, while European markets reversed last week’s losses and edged hire.

The dollar was broadly flat against the pound and rose 0.39% and 0.35% against the euro and the yen respectively, while gold futures slid 0.45% to $1,132.70.

Oil prices staged a solid rebound, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 2.45% to $45.83 a barrel, while Brent rose 1.72% to $48.30 a barrel.