Market Wrap for Monday, May 20: Stocks Record Very Minor Losses; Greenback Falls Versus Euro

The U.S. stock market fell on Monday in a quiet trading session. The losses, however, were very minor and the sharp uptrend in equities continues to look intact. Nevertheless, traders and investors will be on the lookout for any sign of a pullback as stock prices have been surging on a near daily basis in recent weeks. In currency trading, the greenback fell while the euro climbed to kick off the trading week in the United States. Major Averages The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points, or 0.12 percent, to 15,335. The S&P 500 fell 1 point, or 0.07 percent, to 1,666. The Nasdaq Composite shed a little less than 3 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,496. Commodities Crude oil prices rose on Monday to start off the trading week. Late in the day, NYMEX crude futures were up 0.72 percent to $96.71. Brent crude contracts had added 0.08 percent to $104.72. Natural gas futures prices were last trading up 0.81 percent to $4.09. Precious metals rose on the day. At last check, COMEX gold futures were up around 1.83 percent to $1,389.70. Silver futures had last added 2.21 percent to $22.85. Copper climbed a little less than 1 percent on Monday. In the grains complex, corn and wheat futures were mixed. At last check, corn was trading down 0.50 percent while wheat was up 0.29 percent. In soft commodities, movers included coffee, which fell 1.28 percent, and orange juice, which rose better than 1 percent. Bonds Bond prices were largely unchanged on Monday. Near the close of equities, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT was basically flat at $117.03. The yields on both the 2-Year Note and 5-Year Note were unchanged at 0.24 percent and 0.83 percent, respectively. The yield on the 10-Year Note climbed one basis point to 1.97 percent. The yield on the 30-Year Bond was also higher by one basis point to 3.17 percent. Currencies The greenback was strongly lower on the day. At last check, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the dollar versus a basket of foreign currencies, had lost 0.63 percent to $22.77. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading up 0.41 percent to $1.2891. Other movers included the USD/JPY, which fell 0.88 percent, and the AUD/USD, which rose 0.90 percent. Volatility and Volume The VIX rose on Monday as stocks recorded very small losses. The widely watched barometer of market fear was trading up around 5 percent to 13.06 late in the session. Volume was very light to start the trading week. Only around 75 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 125 million. Stock Movers Shares of rare earth miner Molycorp MCP had jumped almost 11 percent heading into the close. The move in the stock may have been influenced by short-covering. SolarCity SCTY added around 15 percent on Monday. The company announced a financing deal with Goldman Sachs last Friday sending it up sharply. The activity in SolarCity also appears to be related to short-covering. Websense WBSN rose almost 29 percent after agreeing to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners. IAMGOLD IAG jumped more than 12 percent on Monday. The move in the name was tied to a strong showing for gold prices to start the week. First Solar FSLR shares rallied in the wake of an earnings report from Chinese panel maker J.A. Solar JASO. First Solar was trading up around 10 percent heading into the close. Foster Wheeler FWLT rose 9 percent on Monday after announcing that Dave Lawson will head the company's metals and mining business. Raven Industries RAVN lost more than 7 percent in the wake of its Q4 earnings results. OSI Systems OSIS fell almost 8 percent after the company said that it expects to receive a notice from the Department of Homeland Security in connection with the termination of their software deal several months ago.