US close: Stocks turn positive by the closing bell

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks managed a positive close on Monday, despite falling earlier after some disappointing data out of China.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.45% at 33,912.44, as the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 4,297.14 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.62% to 13,128.05.

The Dow closed 151.39 points higher on Monday, adding to the gains it recorded in the previous session on Friday.

“Fears the US economy might be heading for an actual recession have resurfaced because of the brutal New York Fed manufacturing index report,” said Equiti Capital market analyst David Madden.

“Overall, it paints a picture of a sector that fell off a cliff edge.

“US stocks lost ground in early trading, but they have since moved into positive territory.”

The week's focus was set to be on retailers, with earnings from the likes of Home Depot, Walmart, and Target all scheduled for release later in the week, and July retail sales data set for publication on Wednesday.

Headlines out of China were also drawing an amount of investor attention earlier, with the country’s central bank unexpectedly cutting a major interest rate in an attempt to bolster an economy that had struggled to grow amid repeated Covid-19 lockdowns and a property downturn.

The People's Bank of China trimmed its medium-term lending rate by 10 basis points to 2.75%, while official data also showed consumer and factory activity was weaker than forecast as the pace of the country's economic recovery continued to be sluggish.

On the macro front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's regional manufacturing index missed economists' forecasts by a wide margin as gauges for new orders and shipments cratered.

The headline index fell from a reading of 11.1 for July to -31.3, well and truly missing expectations for a reading of 5.0.

At the same time, the sub-index linked to new orders fell from 6.2 to -29.6 and that for shipments from 25.3 to -24.1.

Elsewhere, the National Association of Housebuilders' housing market index fell for an eighth straight month to 49 in August - its lowest reading since May 2020 and well and truly short of expectations for a print of 55.

In equities, Bed Bath & Beyond rocketed 23.55% as the ‘meme stock’ retailer became the focus of the /r/WallStreetBets subreddit once again.

The stock’s volume was over eight times its 65-day average on Monday, with 127 million shares traded.

Elsewhere, Walt Disney advanced 2.21% after Third Point’s Dan Loeb said he had “repurchased a significant stake”, having sold down a large holding in a very public move earlier in the year.

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

Dow Jones - Risers

Visa Inc. (V) $216.42 2.41%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $124.26 2.21%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $148.56 1.29%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $64.50 1.26%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $265.44 1.24%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $41.07 1.18%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $251.08 1.08%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.56 0.91%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $134.93 0.69%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.34 0.64%