Market Wrap for April 22: Stocks Rise Moderately to Begin Week

The U.S. stock market rose on Monday to start the week.

The lone domestic economic report was existing home sales, which edged down and missed consensus estimates. Investors will primarily be focused on corporate earnings reports this week after the S&P 500 recorded its largest loss of the year last week.

The market was led by the Nasdaq Composite on Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial only recorded a very small gain.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose a little less than 20 points, or 0.14 percent, to 14,567.

The S&P 500 added a little better than 7 points, or 0.47 percent, to just above 1,562.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed more than 27 points, or 0.86 percent, to 3,234.

Existing Home Sales

Existing home sales fell 0.6 percent from 4.95 million in February to 4.92 million in March. This represented a gain of 10.3 percent on a year over year basis and compared to consensus estimates of 5.01 million.

Commodities

Crude oil rose along with stock to start the week on Monday. NYMEX crude futures were trading up around 0.85 percent near the closing bell. Brent futures had added 0.91 percent and were last trading at $100.49. Natural gas fell more than 3 percent to $4.27 on Monday.

Precious metals jumped on the session. At last check, COMEX gold futures were up a little better than 2 percent to $1,426.80 while silver was around 1.65 percent to $23.40. Near the close, copper was down 0.50 percent.

Grains were mostly lower to start the week. Corn was last down 1.50 percent while wheat lost around 1.25 percent. In the soft commodity complex, movers included cocoa, which was down 1 percent, and orange juice futures, which had lost around 2.50 percent.

Bonds

Near the close of equities, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) was trading near the flat-line. Bond yields were lower on the day with the exception of the 2-Year Note, which was flat at 0.23 percent.

The 5-Year Note was down two basis points to 0.69 percent. Both the 10-Year Note yield and the 30-Year Bond yield were trading down one basis point to 1.69 percent and 2.88 percent, respectively.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was trading slightly lower late on Monday. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, had lost 0.07 percent to $22.49.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading down 0.02 percent to $1.3059. Most other currencies were trading close to unchanged on the day with the biggest mover being the GBP/USD, which was up 0.31 percent.

Volatility and Volume

The VIX fell around 4 percent on Monday. At last check, the closely watched barometer of market fear was trading at 14.33.

Volume was very light on the session. Only around 89.5 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) shares traded hands during the session compared to a 3-month daily average of 129 million.

Stock Movers

Shares of Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) rose better than 6 percent after the company's multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera recorded a strong second week of sales.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was trading up around 6 percent near the close after the company released its fiscal first-quarter earnings results, being analysts' consensus estimates.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) shares rose around 3 percent on the day after releasing its fiscal first-quarter earnings despite cutting its full-year guidance.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) was last up around 7 percent after the company's board of directors approved a tender offer to buy back up to $100 million of its stock at a premium.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was trading up around 7 percent near the closing bell. The company is set to release its quarterly earnings results after the closing bell. After market, shares are up 18.75 percent.

Six Flags (NYSE:SIX) had rallied almost 8 percent after releasing its fiscal first-quarter earnings results.

Retailer Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) had risen better than 8 percent on the session. Hedge fund investor Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital recently filed a 13G showing that the firm had a roughly 5 percent position in the stock.

Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) was trading up around 4 percent on the day after Deutsche Bank raised its price target and expectations for the company's third-quarter earnings results.