Stocks Mostly Positive After Recovering From Initial Drop - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Monday after recovering from an initial move to the downside. With the upward move on the day, the Dow has risen to its best intraday level in well over five months.

In recent trading, the major averages have moved roughly sideways, hovering in positive territory. The Dow is up 74.58 points or 0.4 percent at 17,972.04, the Nasdaq is up 8.06 points or 0.2 percent at 4,946.28 and the S&P 500 is up 8.65 points or 0.4 percent at 2,089.38.

A decrease by the price of crude oil contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street after major oil producing nations failed to reach an agreement on a production freeze at a weekend meeting in Doha.

Crude oil for May delivery fell as low as $37.61 a barrel but has shown a significant rebound and is now down $0.47 at $39.89 a barrel.

Despite the recovery, the price of crude oil is lower for the fourth straight session after reaching its highest level since November last Tuesday.

With the price of crude oil climbing well off its early lows, energy stocks have shown a strong move to the upside over the course of the trading session.

The NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index has surged up by 1.3 percent, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 1.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index is up by 1.1 percent.

Notable strength has also emerged among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones Banks Index. The index is on pace to end the session at a three-month closing high.

Trucking, biotechnology, and steel stocks have also moved to the upside on the day, although most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing that homebuilder confidence remained unchanged in April.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came in at 58 in April, unchanged from March. The index had been expected to inch up to 59.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 3.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved higher over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a moderate move to the downside on the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.6 basis points at 1.778 percent.