Wall Street’s major market averages ticked higher on Monday to start off the trading week while Treasury yields rose as well, all in the wake of Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend.
Early on and the blue-chip Dow (DJI) was +0.2%, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) was +0.1%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) was near even.
From a sector point of view, six of the 11 S&P segments are higher with Health Care and Financials at the top of the leaderboard. At the same time the two worst performing sectors on the session are Real Estate and Utilities.
Looking towards the Treasury market and yields marched higher with the shorter end U.S. 2 Year Treasury yield (US2Y) advancing by 7 basis points to 4.97%. At the same time, the longer end U.S. 10 Year Treasury yield (US10Y) moved up by 12 basis point to 4.65%.
See how other yields trade across the entire yield curve here.
“Since last Friday, geopolitics has returned as the biggest concern for markets, as investors react to Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend. But since markets have reopened after the weekend, the reaction among key assets has been subdued, with investors hopeful that any escalation will prove contained,” said Deutsche Bank’s Henry Allen.
The economic calendar is light on Monday, but retail sales for March did come in. Retail sales stayed strong in March, with core retail sales accelerating.
Retail sales arrived at +0.7% M/M to $709.6B versus the +0.4% expected and +0.9% prior (revised from +0.6%) figures. At the same time core retail sales came in at +1.1% compared to the forecasted +0.5% consensus level.
In terms of market movers, shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) jumped up after the Wall Street bank turned in stronger-than-expected quarterly results. At the same time, shares of Tesla (TSLA) slipped as two executives reportedly leave the company.
See some of the markets other largest movers on the day here.