US open: Stocks higher as Dow Jones tries to build on record close

dl wall street wall st new york city new york stock exchange nyse dow jones nasdaq street sign nyc united states usa america pb — Sharecast / Alessandro D Andrea via Pixabay

Wall Street stocks were higher early on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average tries to build on its record close.

As of 1510 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.03% at 42,075.63, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.25% to 5,716.80 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.28% firmer at 17,998.40.

The Dow opened 12.27 points higher on Monday as the blue-chip looked set to narrowly extend its FOMC interest rate decision-fuelled rally into another session.

Monday morning's early moves follow the Fed's decision to cut benchmark overnight interest rates by 50 basis points, using its first cut in four years to take investors, who had broadly expected a more restrained 25 basis point cut, largely by surprise.

On the macro front, a preliminary reading of S&P Global's US manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 47 in September, down from 47.9 in August and going against expectations of an increase to 48.5. The services PMI eased to 55.4 in September, down from 55.7 in August but marginally above market forecasts for a reading of 55.3, while the composite PMI edged lower to 54.4, down from 54.6 but ahead of expectations for a print of 54.3,

Elsewhere, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta head Raphael Bostic said starting the central bank's cutting cycle with a large move would help bring interest rates closer to neutral levels as the risks between inflation and employment become more balanced, while Minneapolis Fed boss Neel Kashkari expects policymakers to ease the pace of interest rate cuts going forward.

In the corporate space, chipmaker Qualcomm has reportedly approached Intel about a potential takeover, with the latter's CEO, Cristiano Amon, said to be involved in the talks.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.35 2.34%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $147.88 1.51%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $299.65 0.95%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $79.75 0.87%
American Express Co. (AXP) $270.79 0.67%
3M Co. (MMM) $135.62 0.63%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $51.93 0.43%
Visa Inc. (V) $285.82 0.37%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $52.16 0.37%
Boeing Co. (BA) $153.76 0.31%