Traders gather at the booth that trades Abbott Laboratories on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Reuters
US stocks closed in positive territory on Monday 2 May, the first trading day of the month, despite Apple posting its first eight-day losing streak since 28 July 1998. The Dow Jones closed up triple digits, while the Nasdaq snapped out of a losing streak from 21 April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 117.52 points, or 0.7%, to settle at 17,891.16. Home Depot Inc and Vista Inc helped drive the average higher, but the biggest contributions were made by Goldman Sachs, according to CNBC. Boeing was the biggest decliner.
The S&P 500 rose 16.13 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 2,081.43, with consumer-discretionary and financials leading all 10 sectors higher.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite managed to snap a seven-day losing streak, with Amazon and Microsoft offsetting a 7.9% decline by Baidu. The tech-heavy index rose 42.24 points, or 0.9%, to settle at 4,817.59. The Nasdaq snapped out of its longest string of losses since an eight-session streak broke on 11 January, MarketWatch.
Apple continued to extend declines for the first eight-day losing streak since 28 July 1998. According to CNBC, the stock dipped about 14% in April, its worst month since January 2013. Apple's shares dropped 0.1% on 2 May after industry tracker IDC announced world-wide shipments of tablets fell an additional 15% during the year's first quarter.
The US dollar index also dropped half a percent for the sixth-straight day of declines, with the euro by $1.152 and the yen at 106.46 yen against the greenback. "What you've got going on is the dollar has been weak (and) rotation into beaten-down, more economically-sensitive sectors," Jonathan Lamensdorf, managing director and portfolio manager at Highland Capital Management, told CNBC.
Treasury yields closed mostly up, with the 2-year yield near 0.79% and the 10-year yield up near 1.86%.
Gold futures for June delivery closed off session highs, but managed to settle up $5.30 (£3.61; €4.60) to close at $1,295.80 (£883.52; €1,124.05) an ounce. US crude oil futures traded down $1.14 (£0.78; €0.99), or 2.48%, to settle at $44.78 (£30.53; €38.84) a barrel.
Overseas, European stocks closed mostly higher and the Nikkei 225 dropped 3.1%. However, markets in London, Hong Kong and mainland China were closed on holiday, CNBC noted.