Investing.com – Wall Street opened slightly higher on Monday amid what is expected to be one of the biggest online shopping days as the holiday season kicks off.
The S&P 500 rose two points or 0.08% as of 10:34 AM ET (3:34 PM GMT) while the Dow composite increased 63 points or 0.27%. Tech heavy NASDAQ Composite inched forward five and a half points or 0.08%.
Retail stocks were among the best performers, as online and brick and mortar stores had a strong start to the holiday season. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 2.02%, while Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) increased 1.30% and Wal-mart jumped 0.47%. Social media sites were also up, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inching forward 0.38% and Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP). surging 3.14%.
Meanwhile, semiconductor firms fell. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) slumped 0.45% and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) was down 2.63%. Payments processing company Square (NYSE:SQ) fell 6.45% and computer data firm Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) decreased 5.76%.
In economic news, U.S. new home sales hit a 10-year high in October, according to data from the Commerce Department.
Investors continue to look ahead to tax reform news, as Republican leaders in the Senate could vote on the highly anticipated tax-reform bill as soon as November 30. Republicans are rushing to pass a tax bill before the end of the year, which could include cutting corporate taxes to 20% from 35%.
Stocks in Europe were down. In Germany the DAX fell 18 points or 0.14% while France’s CAC 40 was down 11 points or 0.20% and in London the FTSE 100 decreased 13 points or 0.18%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 46 points or 0.46% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slipped four and a half points or 0.13%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.51% to $1,293.85 a troy ounce while crude oil futures slumped 2.19% to 57.66 a barrel ahead of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting on Thursday to decide whether to extend their current production agreement. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.42% to 92.66.