US stocks have spent the day in positive territory on generally strong manufacturing data, although leading indices closed well below their intraday highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday gained 65.36 (0.44 per cent) at 14,974.96. The Dow rose as high as 15,083 earlier in the session.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 8.68 (0.54 per cent) to 1,614.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 31.24 (0.92 per cent) to 3,434.49.
Brent Schutte, a market strategist at BMO Private Bank, said the monthly Institute for Supply Management reading of US manufacturing activity was “pretty good”.
The ISM purchasing managers index rose to 50.9 in June from a contraction reading of 49.0 in May. At the same time, the ISM showed manufacturing employment contracted for the first time since September 2009.
“I don’t know if bad news is good news or good news is good news,” Schutte said. Markets “seem to be in this tug-of-war period”.
Cancer-drug developer Onyx Pharmaceuticals surged 51.3 per cent after it rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from Amgen, potentially setting off a bidding war. Amgen fell 1.2 per cent.
Celgene Corp, another biopharmaceutical company, rose 1.6 per cent, while Gilead Sciences, a Celgene peer, added 0.8 per cent. Both Celgene and Gilead have been mentioned as possible Onyx suitors.
Apple rose 3.2 per cent after Raymond James upgraded the technology giant to “strong buy”, citing increased iPhone shipments and a belief that near-term trends will stabilise, according to Market Watch.
Online game developer Zynga rose 10.4 per cent on reports that the company was set to appoint Microsoft executive Don Mattrick to a senior post. After the market closed, Zynga announced that Mattrick would become chief executive.
Electric car manufacturer Tesla jumped 9.2 per cent to $US117.18 after Jefferies raised its stock price target to $US130 based on higher estimates of auto deliveries.
“Despite the massive run in the stock… (Tesla) is one of the best growth stories in the market today,” Jefferies said.
Intuit, which provides financial management, tax and online banking services, rose 3.5 per cent after announcing plans to divest its financial services division for $US1 billion and to sell its health group.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was 2.49 per cent, up from 2.48 per cent on Friday, while the 30-year slipped to 3.49 per cent from 3.50 per cent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
