Stocks inch up after recent big gains; oil, yields rise

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks on global indexes mostly edged higher in volatile trading on Monday, extending last week’s sharp gains, while oil prices and Treasury yields rose.

Oil was up following last week’s rout, with investors still weighing worries over an economic slowdown against concern over lost Russian supply amid sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine.

Investors have been hoping oil’s slide from three-month peaks hit earlier in June could ease overall inflation concerns and allow the U.S. Federal Reserve to tighten policy less aggressively than initially feared.

Still, data on Monday showed new orders for U.S.-made capital goods and shipments increased solidly in May, pointing to sustained strength in business spending on equipment in the second quarter.

Stocks moved between gains and losses in early trading on Wall Street, and the Nasdaq was nearly flat in late morning trading.

“We had a nice rally last week, so I think we’re seeing a little bit of profit-taking this morning,” said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83.01 points, or 0.26%, to 31,583.69, the S&P 500 gained 12.74 points, or 0.33%, to 3,924.48 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.95 points, or 0.03%, to 11,611.57.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.61% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.73%.

A further easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China helped to support global indexes.

Treasury yields climbed following the capital and durable goods orders and as pending home sales surprised to the upside from the previous month.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose 4.6 basis points to 3.170% and the two-year’s yield, which typically heralds rate expectations, gained 2.2 basis points to 3.079%.

U.S. crude recently rose 1.54% to $109.28 per barrel and Brent was at $114.68, up 1.38% on the day.

In foreign exchange, the U.S. dollar edged lower versus its major rivals as investors weighed expectations on inflation and rate hikes.

The dollar index fell 0.298%, with the euro up 0.5% to $1.0607.

Also, Russia’s rouble weakened in the interbank market as Russia headed for its first sovereign default since the Bolshevik revolution a century ago.

Cryptocurrencies stumbled. Bitcoin last fell 1.32% to $20,751.76.

Spot gold dropped 0.3% to $1,821.59 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Danilo Masoni in Milan; Shreyashi Sanyal and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Herbert Lash in New York; and Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)