Market Wrap for Monday, March 11: Stocks Continue to Rise to Kick Off Week

After the Dow Jones Industrial Average set four straight record closes last week, stocks are moving higher again on Monday.

Overall, traders largely digest last week's better than 2 percent gain for the major averages last week. It was a slow news day, and volume was much lighter than normal to open the week.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 50 points, or 0.35 percent, to 14,447.

The S&P 500 lost a little better than 5 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,556.

The Nasdaq Composite fell around 8.50 points, or 0.26 percent, to 3,253.

Commodities

Crude oil was mixed on the day. At last check, NYMEX crude futures were essentially flat at $91.91. Brent contracts, however, had lost 0.78 percent to $109.99. Natural gas rose around 0.50 percent to $3.65 on the day.

Gold was slightly higher near the close of equities, while silver was slightly lower. At last check, COMEX gold futures were up 0.15 percent to $1,579.40 while silver had lost 0.03 percent to $28.95. Copper rose 0.28 percent.

In the agricultural complex, both corn and wheat traded higher on the session. At last check, corn was up a little more than 1 percent and wheat had climbed a little better than 0.40 percent.

In soft commodities, the only significant mover was orange juice concentrate futures, which rose around 2.33 percent.

Bonds

Late in the equity trading session, the iShares was sitting near the flat line, having rose 0.06 percent to $114.82. Yields moved slightly higher on the day, although the 2-Year Note yield was unchanged at 0.25 percent.

The 5-Year and 10-Year Note yields rose one basis point to 0.25 percent and 0.90 percent, respectively. The yield on the 30-Year Bond also rose one basis point to 3.26 percent.

Currencies

The U.S. Dollar was slightly lower on the session. Near the equity close, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was down 0.18 percent to $22.52.

The closely watched EUR/USD was last trading up around 0.23 percent to $1.3035. The greenback added 0.32 percent versus the Japanese yen and the Aussie dollar climbed 0.30 percent versus the U.S. dollar.

Volatility and Volume

The VIX traded down to a new 52-week low as the market continued to rise on Monday. The VIX closed down more than 6 percent to 11.81.

Volume was very light on the session. Only around 64 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 133.5 million.

Stock Movers

Dicks Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) fell almost 11 percent after the company released its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results.

Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) received a favorable mention in Barron's, sending the stock up better than 6 percent near the close of trading.

Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) had plunged more than 15 percent near the close of trading on Monday after the company reported a wider fourth-quarter loss.

Elan (NYSE:ELN) was trading better than 3 percent higher late on Monday after the company announced a share buyback.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE:SCR) rose more than 16 percent on Monday after the company said a group including its chairman had offered to take the company private for $9.56 per American depositary share.

Oil-refiner Valero (NYSE:VLO) fell better than 4 percent on Monday after a report showed that industrial production growth is slowing in China.