Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on Monday in a session with light news flow as investors stood ready to measure words from Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen.
At 11:24AM ET (16:24GMT), the Dow Jones gained 50 points, or 0.25%, the S&P 500 rose 7 points or 0.31%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 34 points, or 0.63%.
On a light economic calendar, activity in the U.S. services sector registered an unexpected slowdown in December.
In a report, market research group Markit said that its flash services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 53.4 in December, from the prior month’s reading of 54.6.
Analysts had expected the reading to increase to 55.2.
“Although service sector growth cooled in December, the PMI surveys indicate that the economy continued to show solid, steady growth at the end of the year,” Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said.
According to this expert, the data suggested fourth quarter growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.0%, fueled mainly by improving domestic demand.
Also on the calendar Monday, Yellen was set to give a speech titled “The State of the Job Market” at the University of Baltimore 2016 Midyear Commencement in Baltimore, Maryland at 1:30PM (18:30GMT).
Market participants would pay attention to any possible hints Yellen might divulge on the future path of monetary policy, but expectations were low with the appearance focusing on the labor market and coming just days after the U.S. central bank decided to hike interest rates by 25 basis points for only the second time in a decade and surprised markets by revealing that policymakers now expect rates to increase three times in 2017, compared to prior estimates for just two moves.
Gold prices edged up during in morning trade on Monday, extending its recovery from ten-month lows as the U.S. dollar pulled back from recent highs.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on $5.95, or 0.52%, to $1,143.35 a troy ounce by 11:25AM ET (16:25GMT), after rising $7.60, or 0.67%, in the prior session.
Prices of the yellow metal sank to $1,124.30 last Thursday, a level not seen since February 2.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.17% at 102.75 by 11:25AM ET (16:25GMT), slipping from last week's 14-year high of 103.55, as a bout of profit taking kicked in ahead of the year-end holidays.
Meanwhile, oil prices were trading lower as investors weighed prospects for full compliance by major oil producers to cut output starting in January.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.15% to $52.87 by 11:26AM ET (15:26GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.67% to $54.84.
In company news, shares in Lennar (NYSE:LEN) jumped more than 3% after the homebuilder beat consensus on both the top and bottom line of its fiscal fourth quarter report.
On the downside, Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) sunk more than 3% after offering to buy Brazilian miner Vale’s fertilizer business for around $2.5 billion in cash and stock.
Investors were also keeping an eye on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as the technological gadget maker said it will launch its appeal this week to the European Union ruling that it should pay €13 billion ($13.8 billion) in taxes at the region’s Commission said its benefits from paying taxes in Ireland amounted to illegal state aid.