Dow And S&P 500 Set New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - Extending the upward move seen over the three previous sessions, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. The gains on the day further offset the sharp pullback seen earlier this month, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

Semiconductor stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the trading day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 1.5 percent. With the gain, the index continued to climb back toward the thirteen-year closing high set earlier this month.

KLA Tencor (KLAC), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), and Cree (CREE) turned in some of the semiconductor sector's best performances.

Considerable strength was also visible among railroad stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Railroads Index. Providence & Worcester (PWX) helped lead the sector higher, jumping by 5.3 percent.

Commercial real estate, electronic storage, and networking stocks also saw significant strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

On the other hand, gold stocks saw substantial weakness, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 6.1 percent. The weakness in the sector came as gold for February delivery tumbled $16.20 to $1,179.80 an ounce.

Energy stocks also showed a notable move to the downside, as crude for February delivery fell $1.87 to $55.26 a barrel.

The major averages ended the session just off their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 154.64 points or 0.9 percent to 17,959.44, the Nasdaq rose 16.04 points or 0.3 percent to 4,781.42 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.89 points or 0.4 percent to 2,078.54.