Monday's trading session started off with a significant increase in stock values, which held steady into the afternoon. While the major market indices did not maintain their session highs, they remained in the green. Specifically, the Nasdaq index increased by 157.53 points (or 1.0%) to a total of 16,130.70 points, the S&P 500 ascended by 38.30 points (or 0.8%) to reach 5,155.39 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a rise of 85.24 points (or 0.2%) to reach 38,800.01 points.
The early market boost was largely driven by technology stocks, with the tech-centric Nasdaq enjoying a rebound after three consecutive days of losses. Alphabet Inc.’s shares, for example, saw notable growth following a Bloomberg report suggesting that Apple is in discussions to integrate Google's Gemini artificial intelligence engine into future iPhones. Additionally, Nvidia saw an uptick in share prices leading up to its GTC Conference, although their momentum waned later in the session.
Conversely, Super Micro Computer’s shares suffered a dip after the company was added to the S&P 500 index at the start of trading.
Investors are also awaiting the outcomes of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting later this week. Although it is expected that interest rates will remain unchanged, the central bank's economic forecasts and accompanying statement could significantly influence future rate trajectories. Recent higher-than-expected inflation figures have dampened prospects for an initial rate cut by the Fed in June.
In other economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported an unanticipated improvement in homebuilder confidence in March. In fact, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose from 48 in February to 51 in March, exceeding predictions of no change.
Looking at overseas trading, most Asia-Pacific markets recorded growth on Monday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surging by 2.7% and China's Shanghai Composite Index increasing by 1.0%. However, major European markets did not perform as well - the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2%, the UK's FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1%, and the German DAX Index just fell short of breaking even.
Finally, in the bond market, there was a continuation of last week's downward trend. Hence, the yield on the ten-year treasury note, which runs inversely to its price, grew by 4.2 basis points to stand at 4.346 percent.
