US open: Wall Street starts holiday-shortened session higher

Walt Disney Co.

$111.55

11:05 27/12/24

-0.89%

-$1.00

Wall Street kicked off the new quarter and the shortened trading session on a positive note, albeit amid thin volumes ahead of the 4 July holiday.

At 1543 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials was higher by 0.86% or 182.73 points at 21,533.27, with the S&P 500 adding 0.59% or 14.24 points to 2,437.75 and the Nasdaq Composite up by 0.11% or 6.33 points to 6,146.21.

The best performing areas of the market were: Oil equipment (2.82%), Aluminum (2.81%) and Marine Transportation (2.32%).

On Friday, stocks ended mixed as technology issues lagged despite better-than-expected readings on the economy.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "A shortened trading day in the US on Monday may weigh heavily on trading activity but we will get some data early in the session, while there’s been no shortage of drivers elsewhere earlier in the day.

"The Markit and ISM readings are expected to point to slightly differing pictures of the sector, with the former indicating slowing growth since the start of the year and the latter having come slightly off its highs but still showing strong growth."

Markit's US manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped from a reading of 52.7 for May to 52.0 in June.

Commenting on Monday's data, Chris Williamson, chief business economist at Markit said: "The PMI has been sliding lower since the peak seen in January and the June reading points to a stagnation – at best – in the official manufacturing output data."

The data clashed with the results of the ISM's own survey of factory sector conditions, with its PMI improving from a reading of 54.9 for May to 57.8 in June (consensus: 55.0).

A gauge of new orders improved, rising from 59.5 to 63.5 with another linked to firms' levels of production gaining from 57.1 to 62.4.

Hiring also picked-up, with the corresponding subindex increasing from 53.5 to 57.2.

Construction spending was essentially flat in June, according to the Department of Commerce, with outlays running at $1.23trn (consensus: 0.3%).

On the corporate front, shares in electric car maker Tesla advanced after chief executive Elon Musk said production of its $35,000 Model 3 electric car should begin this Friday.

Walt Disney was also higher after the New York Post cited rumours last week that Verizon Communications might be eyeing a takeover.

Wynn Resorts was unwanted after the hotel and casino operator on the back of weaker than expected gaming revenues in Macau for the month of June.

Dow Jones - Risers

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $108.31 1.94%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $226.15 1.92%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $82.13 1.76%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.09 1.69%
American Express Co. (AXP) $85.37 1.34%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $81.74 1.25%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $92.54 1.25%
General Electric Co. (GE) $27.24 0.85%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $155.00 0.76%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $186.82 0.76%