Market Wrap for Monday, April 8: Stocks Rise in Afternoon Trade; Close at Session Highs

The U.S. stock market showed more resilience on Monday as the major averages climbed from negative to positive territory in afternoon trade and closed near the highs of the day.

In the currency markets, the Japanese yen continued to plummet versus the greenback on bond buying from the Bank of Japan.

After the closing bell, Alcoa AA kicked off earnings season by reporting Q1 EPS of $0.11 versus the estimated $0.10, beating by $0.01. EPS were Up 10% from the same quarter last year. Revenue came in at $5.83B versus the estimated $5.89B. Sales were Down 3% year over year.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 48 points, or 0.33 percent, to close at 14,613.

The S&P 500 climbed almost 10 points, or 0.63 percent, to finish at 1,563.

The Nasdaq rose a little better than 18 points, or 0.57 percent, to 3,222.

Commodities

Oil prices rose to begin the trading week on Monday. During the final hour of equity trading, NYMEX crude futures were up 0.79 percent to $93.38 while Brent crude had added 0.62 percent to $104.75. Natural gas futures were last down around 1 percent to $4.09 on the session.

Precious metals were slightly lower on the day. At last check, COMEX gold futures had shed 0.21 percent to $1,573.00. Silver futures were last down 0.18 percent to $27.18. Copper futures rose almost 1 percent on Monday.

Grain prices rose across the board on the day. Corn futures were last up 0.72 percent while wheat traded almost 2 percent higher on the session. In soft commodities, significant movers included cocoa, which climbed around 2.50 percent, and coffee, which lost around 3 percent.

Bonds

Bonds fell on the day after a big rally on Friday. Near the closing bell, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT was up around 0.77 percent to $121.90. Lower prices pushed yields higher on Monday.

The yield on the 2-Year Note was unchanged at 0.23 percent, while the yield on the 5-Year Note rose one basis point to 0.70 percent. The 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond yields each rose three basis points to 1.74 percent and 2.91 percent, respectively.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar rose on Monday. Near the close of equities, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was up 0.31 percent to $22.52.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading down 0.06 percent to $1.3004. The big mover on the day, once again, was the USD/JPY, which surged another 1.56 percent. The Japanese yen continues to plunge versus the greenback after a huge round of quantitative easing was announced by the Bank of Japan. The ramifications of the large move in the USD/JPY is having ramifications around the world.

Volatility and Volume

The VIX fell on Monday as stocks surged late in the day. The widely watched barometer of market volatility fell 3.30 percent to close at 13.46.

Volume was very light on the session with only around 72 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 124 million.

Stock Movers

Shares of Lufkin Industries LUFK surged more than 37 percent on Monday after the company agreed to be acquired by GE GE for around $3 billion.

Shares of NII Holdings NIHD continued to surge on Monday after the company announced the sale of its Peruvian business to Chilean telecom operator Entel for $400 million last week. The stock was last trading up around 15 percent near the closing bell.

Icahn Enterprises IEP climbed more than 10 percent on Monday after the stock was mentioned favorably in Barron's.

Shares of chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices AMD were trading up more than 13 percent on Monday after Microsoft said that it would use AMD chips in its next generation XBOX console.

Saba Software SABA fell around 10 percent on the day after the company said last week that it anticipates it will be delisted from the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Enphase Energy ENPH fell around 5 percent on the day, although the reason for the move in the stock was not readily apparent.