U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher But Boeing Weighs On Dow

Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, regaining ground after snapping a nine-week winning streak last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has shown a particularly strong upward move, although the Dow has bucked the uptrend.

In recent trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have reached new highs for the session. The Nasdaq is up 160.04 points or 1.1 percent at 14,684.11 and the S&P 500 is up 22.90 points or 0.5 percent at 4,720.14, but the Dow is down 68.26 points or 0.2 percent at 37,397.85.

The dip by the Dow comes amid a steep drop by shares of Boeing (BA), with the aerospace giant plunging by 7.9 percent.

Boeing has moved sharply lower as the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to ground dozens of the company’s 737 Max 9 aircraft after a door plug blew out in the middle of an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday.

Meanwhile, the strength in the broader markets may reflect ongoing optimism about the outlook for stocks despite recent uncertainty about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

The Labor Department’s reports on consumer and producer price inflation, which are due to be released later this week, could have a significant impact on the look for interest rates.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets later this month, the data could impact expectations regarding a rate cut in March.

Optimism about a March rate cut have recently waned, although CME Group’s FedWatch Tool currently still indicates a 62.7 percent chance of a decrease.

Sector News

Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks have moved sharply higher on the day, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Reflecting the strength in the sectors, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index are up by 2.7 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Considerable strength is also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software…