US stocks closed higher on Monday as investors prepared for an expected Federal Reserve rate hike later in the week, while stocks rose around the world on continued solid global economic growth indicators, Reuters reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 opened flat after news of an explosion in New York’s busy Port Authority commuter hub which New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described as an “attempted terrorist attack.”
US stocks edged higher after worries receded over the explosion.
“The market makes an assessment almost immediately as soon as new information comes in, and this is what you’re seeing,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in New Jersey. “You’re seeing the equity market move higher and the Treasury yields climb just a bit.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 56.87 points, or 0.23 percent, to 24,386.03, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 8.49 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,659.99 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 35.00 points, or 0.51 percent, to 6,875.08.
Gains in the energy .SPNY and technology .SPLRCT indexes helped boost Wall Street. CenturyLink (CTL.N) rose 8.18 percent after the telecom provider signed a 5-year contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.38 percent.
“There’s somewhat of an enthusiasm that global growth is more synchronized than it’s been in a long time, and it’s synchronized in the right direction,” said Scott Wren, a senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.
MSCI's emerging market stock index .MSCIEF rose 0.83 percent. Its broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.81 percent higher, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.56 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 lost 0.01 percent.
British shares rose on a weaker pound, rising oil prices and growing confidence in the financial sector. The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE closed 0.8 percent higher.