As the US economy prepares to commence a troubled restart, the stocks saw a rise on Monday. The increasing hope among investors about the reopening economy fuelled the rally.
US stocks reversed their earlier losses to finish with modest gains as the nation still battles rising infection levels and raging anti-racism protests.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.91 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 25,475.02. The S&P 500 increased 11.42 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 3,055.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 62.18 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 9,552.05, as per reports.
All 50 US states have eased COVID-19 restrictions to varying degrees, despite fears of a re-acceleration in virus cases.
The market gains were somewhat capped as the violent protests that reverberated throughout the country following the death of African American George Floyd. The protests pose a potential deterrent to the economic recovery.
Monday’s moves followed a solid month on Wall Street that saw the Dow rise 4.3 per cent, the S&P 500 gain 4.5 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq mark a 6.8 per cent return for May.
On the data front, US manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) registered 43.1 per cent in May, up 1.6 percentage points from the April reading of 41.5 per cent, the Institute for Supply Management reported on Monday.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the index to total 44 per cent. Any reading below 50 percent indicates the sector is generally contracting.