FX.co ★ Modest Weakness Remains Visible On Wall Street

Stocks saw a slight dip in the afternoon session on Monday, despite the tech-rich Nasdaq reducing its losses - even though it failed to reach the record high level it achieved on last Friday. Presently, the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and the Dow are witnessing a droop by 0.1 percent, 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent at 16,420.39, 5,224.92 and 39,331.69 respectively.

The initial weakness in the market emerged from a decline in technology stocks, with Intel, a giant in the semiconductor industry, sinking by nearly 4.7 percent, hitting its lowest in the past four months. This drastic dive followed the Financial Times' report which stated that China is looking to slowly replace Intel and Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) microprocessors from government computers and servers.

Currently, Intel reduced its losses to 1.1 percent and AMD has managed to bounce back to profitable after the early slump. Microsoft shares are also down by 1.2 percent since the Chinese government aims to replace foreign-made database software and Microsoft's Windows with domestic alternatives.

Despite this, the market's selling pressure remains relatively mild, because traders are hesitant to take major actions ahead of crucial economic data releases in the forthcoming days. Key factors that traders will focus on are reports on durable goods orders, consumer confidence and pending home sales.

The major economic data on personal income, spending and inflation, believed to be favoured by the Fed, will be released on Good Friday, when the markets are closed. Earlier today, the Commerce Department released a report which displayed an unexpected dip in the sale of new homes in the U.S for the month of February.

In other news, despite the mild weakness in broader markets, oil service stocks have surged, causing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index to rise by 1.5 percent which is a five-month high. The rise in oil service stocks comes in the wake of the spiking price of crude oil.

The rising price of gold has also boosted gold stocks significantly, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 1.2 percent. Computer hardware, steel, and oil producers are also surging for the day, whereas software and transportation stocks are witnessing a dip.

In international markets, most Asia-Pacific region stock markets have experienced a drop, with Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and China's Shanghai Composite Index getting hit by a reduction of 1.2 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. Meanwhile, the European markets showed mixed results, with Germany's DAX Index going up by 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 Index remaining consistent, and the UK's FTSE 100 Index reduced by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasury stocks are witnessing a recession after a steady rise in the previous few sessions. Consequently, the yield of the benchmark ten-year note has escalated by 2.7 basis points reaching 4.245 percent.