NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market moved quietly higher Monday as investors decided to step back into a market that was rattled by white-knuckle turbulence last week. It was a rare move upward for a market that, for the
NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market moved quietly higher Monday as investors decided to step back into a market that was rattled by white-knuckle turbulence last week. It was a rare move upward for a market that, for the most part, has been moving lower for the past month.
The Standard &Poor’s 500 index rose 17.26 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,904.02 and the Nasdaq composite gained 57.64 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,316.07.
The Dow Jones industrial average did not fare as well, and wound up essentially flat for the day. The 30-stock index rose 19.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,399.67. The main reason the Dow did not perform as well as the other two indexes was IBM.
IBM fell $12.95, or 7 percent, to $169.10 after the company reported earnings that missed Wall Street’s expectations. The company also missed on revenue and warned that it may not meet its profit goals for the foreseeable future. IBM was the biggest decliner in both the Dow and in the S&P 500.
The Dow is what’s known as a price-weighted stock index, which means more expensive stocks like IBM tend to have an out-sized impact on its movements. Without the effect of IBM’s decline, the blue chip index would have been up 102 points.
The quiet trading on Wall Street on Monday came after a wild ride last week, when the Dow moved between triple-digit losses and triple-digit gains. Investors remain concerned that economic weakness in Europe could spread to the U.S. Many investors remain bullish on the U.S. stock market over the long term, especially considering how well the U.S. economy has been doing.
“I think we are having a modest correction and I don’t think this is a new bear market,” said Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist for private banking at Brown Brothers Harriman.
The calm can be seen in the decline in the VIX, Wall Street’s “fear index.” The VIX fell 15 percent to 18.7, closer to its recent average of 15.
Many market watchers expected more volatile trading in the days and weeks to come. The S&P 500 is down just 5.3 percent from its mid-September high, even with the concerns about Europe and Asia. Also the market has had four straight weeks of declines.
