The Lowdown
Stocks were rocketing higher across sectors, and commodities advanced heartily midmorning Monday, as the dollar weakened and housing data impressed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 171 points, at 10488, while the S&P 500 added 19 at 1111. The Nasdaq shot up 42 to 2189.
As the dollar lost ground, crude oil ticked up $2.35 to $79.82 and gold advanced $5 to $1,146.40, in part as a function of the dollar carry trade, which shorts the U.S. currency and goes long commodities and equities.
Industrials Alcoa (AA: 13.17*, +0.04, +0.30%), Caterpillar (CAT: 59.20*, +1.25, +2.15%), and General Electric (GE: 15.94*, +0.35, +2.24%) in addition to integrated oil stocks Chevron (CVX: 78.86*, +2.09, +2.72%) and Exxon Mobil (XOM: 75.76*, +1.38, +1.85%) were more than 2% higher each on the Dow. Financials were also higher, with Bank of America (BAC: 16.34*, +0.25, +1.55%) and American Express (AXP: 41.71*, +0.78, +1.90%) topping 2% on the index.
Bullish news out of the housing sector helped fuel the early buying. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales surged by 10.1% to 6.1 million in October, easily topping the consensus estimate for 5.7 million.
“Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “With suh a sale spike, a measurable decline should be anticipated in December and early next year before another surge in spring and early summer.”
Following the housing data, home stocks Lennar (LEN: 13.69*, +0.02, +0.14%), Hovnanian (HOV: 4.07*, +0.01, +0.24%), and DR Horton (DHI: 10.50*, +0.13, +1.25%) gained between 2% and 4% apiece.
The housing data were the first of a slate of reports due out this week, including readings on national production, employment, new home sales, and consumer confidence, spending and income.
Stocks overseas were broadly higher, with the FTSE in London and Dax in Frankfurt adding 2.3% and 2.7%, respectively. In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was closed for the session, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tacked on 1.4%.
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Tags: commodities, stock market