Stock Market News for June 02, 2015 – June 2, 2015 – Zacks.com

Benchmarks ended the first trading day of June with modest gains following mixed economic reports. While reports on construction spending and manufacturing were encouraging, data on consumer spending was disappointing. Investors are keeping an eye on economic data for clues on when the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates.

For a look at the issues currently facing the markets, make sure to read today’s Ahead of Wall Street article

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.2% to close at 18,040.37. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) increased 0.2% to 2,111.73. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 5,082.93; gaining almost 0.3%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) advanced 0.9% to settle at 13.97. A total of about 5.9 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last five sessions’ average of 6.1 billion. Advancers outpaced declining stocks on the NYSE. For 51% stocks that advanced, 45% declined.

Benchmarks ended Monday’s trading session in the green following mixed economic data. U.S. construction spending touched its highest level in more than six years in April. The US Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce reported 2.2% gain in construction spending in April. The percentage rise in construction spending in April was the largest since May 2012. March’s outlays were revised up 0.5% in contrast to the earlier decline of 0.6%.

April’s figure was also 4.8% higher than the year-ago figure. Moreover, for the first four months of 2015, construction spending amounted to $288.7 billion, which was 4.1% higher than the same period last year.

Spending on private construction went up 1.8% to an annual rate of $725.2 billion, its highest level since Oct 2008. While outlays on private residential construction increased 0.6% to a rate of $353.1 billion, spending on private non-residential construction climbed 3.1%, a six-year high.

Additionally, the Institute for Supply management reported its May PMI had increased 1.3 percentage points from April to 52.8%, better than the consensus estimate of an increase to 51.8%. The new orders component increased 2.3 percentage points to 55.8%. The employment index also gained 3.54 percentage points to 51.7%.

Separately, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal consumption expenditure remained unchanged in April, in contrast to consensus estimate of a 0.2% increase. Personal spending had increased 0.5% in March. However, personal income increased 0.4% in April, more than the consensus estimate of a 0.3% gain. This rise in personal income came in after it had remained flat in March. Additionally, disposable personal income increased 0.4 % in April.

Monday’s gains were broad based with 9 out of 10 sectors of the S&P 500 ending in the green. The Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) advanced almost 0.5% and was the biggest gainer among the S&P 500 sectors. Key holdings from the industrial sector including Union Pacific Corporation (UNP – Analyst Report), The Boeing Company (BA – Analyst Report), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT – Analyst Report), United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS – Analyst Report) and Danaher Corp. (DHR – Analyst Report) increased 1%, 0.5%, 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively.

The Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) gained 0.4%, the second highest among the S&P 500 sectors. Shares of healthcare stocks such as Amgen Inc. (AMGN – Analyst Report), Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD – Analyst Report), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY – Analyst Report), Medtronic plc (MDT – Analyst Report) and AbbVie Inc. (ABBV – Analyst Report) increased 0.5%, 1.6%, 2.9%, 0.5% and 0.5%, respectively.

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Stock Market News for June 02, 2015 – June 2, 2015 – Zacks.com