The major benchmarks put on a late spurt Monday, albeit in light trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 17,252, up 123 points or 0.72%, while the broader-based S&P 500 climbed 15 points (0.77%) to 2,021.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 46 points, or 0.93%, to 4,969, helped by index heavyweight Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which ended the day slightly firmer in the wake of an interview with chief executive officer Tim Cook, broadcast on Sunday, in which he maintained that the company's products were being manufactured in China because of the skill of the country's workforce, rather than because of low labor costs.
Cook also defended the company's tax policies, particularly in regards to the US$74bn in revenue it has “offshored”, saying he would not bring the money back to the US because of the US's tax rate.
It was another bad day for fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG), as it emerged it is under investigation (again) for an outbreak of E.coli in one of its restaurants last month.
Mid-session wrap
Wall Street’s rally slowed through Monday afternoon as crude oil prices continued be a drag on investor enthusiasm.
WTI crude oil was down around a further 1% at US$35.70 on Monday while Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost about 1.4% to US$36.35.
Energy stocks, as a sector, were down about 0.6% with the likes of Chevron (NYSE:CVX), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) among the notable fallers – losing 1.2%, 0.6% and 7% respectively.
Overall, though, the stock market saw a positive start to the week.
The Dow Jones was up about 60 points, 0.35%, at 17,189 while the S&P 500 gained 0.46% to 2,014 and the Nasdaq moved 0.66% higher to 4,955.
Wall Street rallies at start of short, light week
The Dow Jones advanced around 106 points, 0.6%, to trade at 17,235 this morning at the start of a shorter, lighter trading week.
At the same time the S&P 500 was up about 0.7% at 2,020 while the Nasdaq gained 0.77% to 4,960.
Shares in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.6% to US$106.62 after it announced a settlement with Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC) in a mobile phone patent dispute. Ericsson shares gained 5.36% to US$9.61 each.
Shares in Disney (NYSE:DIS) rallied in early deals as investors cheered a record breaking first weekend at the box office for its first Star Wars movie (after it bought out George Lucas) which reportedly took in excess of US$500mln worldwide.
Momentum was, however, lost as full trading got underway and the stock was down more than 1% in the first hour.
Cable firm Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) fell about 1.3% amid speculation it was looking to buy British broadcaster ITV.
Wall Street futures pointing higher ahead of holidays
Upon Friday’s close in New York the so-called ‘Santa Clause rally’ looked well and truly scrooged.
The annual phase of window dressing and short-covering, occurring amid dwindling pre-holiday trading volumes, typically puts a shine on the year-end; though with 367 point fall on the Dow Jones last Friday it appears the market’s been naughty not nice.
Nevertheless, Monday’s pre-market indicators at least indicate a paring of the losses, with the Dow Jones futures up around 140 points at 17,158, the S&P 500 futures about 20 points higher at 2,011 and the Nasdaq rising 43 points to 4,548.
The price of oil and weak energy stocks remain a key feature of trading, and crude was lower again at the start of the week – WTI is down almost 1% at US$35.72 while Brent was 1.2% lower at US$36.44.
With just a few trading days left till the holidays its unsurprising that company news driven events are few and far between.
Disney is set for a Jedi shaped boost after its first Star Wars movie recorded the largest ever opening weekend at the box-office with an estimated US$238mln taken in the US and over US$500mln coming worldwide.
Given that most, if not all, movie production costs were covered by marketing and merchandising deal the force is clearly very strong for the rebooted sci-fi franchise.