Stock Market News For July 11, 2017

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed in positive territory on Monday boosted primarily by technology shares. The technology sector gained for the second successive session led by increase in shares of tech stalwarts such as Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. Energy shares moved north due to uptick in oil prices following news that Libya and Nigeria have been requested by other OPEC members to join the producer bloc’s meeting scheduled to be held later this month.

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) declined marginally by 5.82 points to close at 21,408.52. The Dow was dragged down primarily by decline in shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) . The S&P 500 advanced 0.1% to end at 2,427.43. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4% to finish at 6,176.39. A total of around 5.6 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.9 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered declining stocks on the NYSE by a 1.05 to 1 ratio.

Technology Shares Continue to Gain

Technology shares continued to rise on Monday, lifting the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 higher. Gain in shares of major tech stalwarts such as Facebook, Apple and Microsoft helped the technology sector to finish in positive territory.

Shares of major technology companies including Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) , Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) recorded gain of 1.4%, 0.6% and 0.8% respectively. The broader Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) advanced 0.7%, emerging as the best performing sector of the S&P 500. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Energy Shares Move North

Oil prices moved north on Monday, recovering from a steep decline of almost 4% last week. Prices ended higher following news that Libya and Nigeria have been invited to OPEC’s meeting scheduled to be held later this month. Both these countries were not involved in the pre-existing OPEC pact aimed at curtailing oil production and easing out excess global supply.

A recent increase in crude production from Libya and Nigeria heightened concerns regarding an already oversaturated global oil market. As per JBC, crude production has gone up in Libya to more than one million barrels per day (bpd), while Nigeria has increased its output to 1.6 million bpd. As per a Wall Street Journal report, both of these countries were invited to a meeting of leading oil producers on July 24 to discuss their soaring crude production. This development had a positive impact on investor sentiment, which ultimately had a positive impact on oil prices.

The increase in oil prices had a positive impact on the energy shares, which in turn had a positive impact on the broader markets. WTI crude prices advanced by $0.17, or 0.4%, to $44.40 a barrel. The broader Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE (NYSE:XLE)) advanced 0.3%. Some of its key holdings, including EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) and Halliburton Co (NYSE:HAL) both increased 1.3%.

All Eyes on Q2 Earnings Season

Investors also remained focused on the second quarter earnings season due to begin this week with major banks including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) , Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) scheduled to report on Friday.

Economic Data

According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. consumer credit recorded an increase of 5.8% or by $18.4 billion, marking its biggest increase in seven months. Revolving credit such as credit cards rose 8.7% whereas non revolving credit like auto and student loans experienced an increase of 4.7%.

Stocks that made Headlines

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