Tech Advance Lifts S&P 500 and Nasdaq Higher, Oil at 10-week High

Barry Adams
11 Sep, 2023
New York City

Market indexes rebounded on Monday after investors searched for bargains in tech stocks and awaited the release of inflation data later in the week. 

Popular market indexes declined around 2% last week and trimmed year's solid advance on the ongoing uncertainty related to Fed's interest rate policy. 

Market participants are divided about the interest rate direction and most economists are forecasting the Federal Reserve to pause rate hike at the end of its next policy meeting ending on September 20.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index added 0.4% in early trading and tech stocks led gainers. 

Apple, Qualcomm and Tesla were in news and traded higher as companies focus on improving technology and developing new products. 

Apple was in focus ahead of the its annual product launch event on Tuesday and the popular computing devices maker is expected to release iPhone 15. 

In merger news, J.M. Smucker revved up its deal making and agreed to acquire Hostess Brands for as much as $5.6 billion.  

 

U.S. Indexes & Yields 

The S&P 500 index traded up 0.3% to 4,472.41 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4% to 13,816.10. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.98%, 10-year Treasury notes inched lower to 4.28% and 30-year Treasury bonds edged down to 4.36%. 

Crude oil increased $0.35 to $87.85 a barrel and natural gas prices increased 0.001 cent to $2.60 a thermal unit. 

The dollar index edged lower to  104.4 mark and edged lower from the 105 mark reached last week but traded higher from the low of 99.85 reached on July 13. 

Last week, the dollar index, which tracks the price of the U.S. dollar against major currencies, halted a five-day rally Friday but extended gains to the eight week in a row and rose to a six-month high on the expectations of higher interest rates. 

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

J.M. Smucker, the maker of peanut butter, jelly, coffee and pet foods, said it agreed to acquire Twinkies maker Hostess Brands for $34.25 a share in stock and cash. 

The offer valued Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion including debt and the purchase is expected to close by the  end of January 2024. 

J.M. Smucker Co declined 6.8% to $132.0 and Hostess Brands Inc soared 19.1% to $33.47. 

RTX Corp declined 6.6% to $77.90 after the company said it plans to take a pre-tax charge of $3 billion in its current quarter results because of issues related to some of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine manufacturing that power  Airbus A320 neo. 

Tesla Inc jumped 7.4% to $266.81 after Morgan Stanley analyst made positive comments and said that the company has made significant breakthrough in its software for autonomous vehicle. 

Analyst Adam Jonas said that stock could rally as much as 60% and add as much as $500 billion in market cap as the company makes advances in its supercomputing project Dojo. 

Qualcomm Inc jumped 3.2% to $110.29 after the company said it will provide modems for smartphones made by Apple through 2026.  

Apple has been working for more than four years to develop its own modem chipsets and purchased Intel's modem division in 2019.