Stocks rose on Monday, as traders tried to move past Moody’s Investors Service lowering its U.S. credit rating outlook to negative from stable.
Moody’s on Friday underscored the U.S.′ “very large” fiscal deficits and partisan gridlock in Washington as contributing factors for the cut. The ratings agency reaffirmed America’s credit rating at AAA, the highest level. This comes three months after Fitch lowered the U.S. long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to AA+ from AAA, also citing expected fiscal deterioration, an increasing debt burden and political standoffs on fiscal and debt issues.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91 points to gain 0.26%. The S&P 500 added 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite hovered near the flatline.
Leading the S&P 500 gains were DaVita, Insulet and Henry Schein, each up more than 7%. Shares of Boeing added more than 4% after Emirates announced a $52 billion order for 95 aircraft, giving the Dow a lift.
Investors are awaiting the release of fresh U.S. inflation data this week, with the latest reading on the consumer price index slated for release Tuesday.
Turning to commodities, oil prices rose on Monday as OPEC's dismissal of demand slowdown concerns led to gains in Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude contracts for January and December, respectively.
OPEC refuted concerns about weakening oil demand, citing increased Chinese crude imports in October, robust U.S. economic growth, and a 5.4% projected growth in the Chinese economy for this year, attributing the recent oil price selloff to speculative bets on declining crude prices.
Turning to US sectors, Energy is the best performing sectors, whilst Utilities is the worst.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 7:30 AM was buying 63.81 US cents.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.89 per cent, Frankfurt gained 0.73 per cent, and Paris closed 0.60 per cent higher.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.05 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.30 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.25 per cent higher.
The Australian share market closed 0.40 per cent lower at 6949.
Ex-dividends
National Aust. Bank (ASX:NAB) is paying 84 cents fully franked
QV Equities (ASX:QVE) is paying 1.3 cents fully franked
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
