U.S. Stocks Close Little Changed After Recovering From Early Weakness

(RTTNews) - Stocks came under pressure in early trading on Monday but staged a notable recovery over the course of the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching positive territory.

The major averages eventually finished the session mixed. While the Nasdaq edged down 3.60 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 12,084.36, the S&P 500 inched up 4.09 points or 0.1 percent to 4,109.11 and the Dow rose 101.23 points or 0.3 percent at 33,586.52.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates following last week's monthly jobs report.

The Labor Department's closely watched report, which was released while the markets were closed for Good Friday, showed employment in the U.S. increased roughly in line with economist estimates in the month of March.

The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 236,000 jobs in March after jumping by an upwardly revised 326,000 jobs in February.

Economists had expected employment to rise by about 240,000 jobs compared to the addition of 311,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in March from 3.6 percent in February. The unemployment rate was expected to be unchanged.

On the heels of the report, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 71.7 percent chance the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by a quarter point next month.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to key inflation data later in the week along with reports on retail sales and industrial production as well as the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

Steel stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, resulting in a 2.3 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Significant strength also emerged among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Semiconductor, transportation and natural gas stocks also saw notable strength, while weakness remained visible among gold and biotechnology stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets remained closed on the day in observance of Easter Monday.

In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction following the downward move seen in an abbreviated session last Friday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 3.415 percent.

Looking Ahead

A lack of major U.S. economic data may lead to choppy trading on Tuesday, as traders look ahead to the release of key data later in the week.