US open: Stocks probe record highs amid recovery in Treasury yields
Wall Street's main market gauges are holding slightly higher as investors gauge the prospects for further advances amid an improved economic outlook for 2018 and buoyant investor sentiment.
On Friday, indices had hit fresh all-time highs following the release of a decent non-farm payrolls report even as the policy sensitive yield on the benchmark two-year US Treasury note continued to tread water near its highest level in years.
Against that backdrop, as of 1628 GMT the Dow Jones Industrials Average was up 0.04% or 9.76 points at 23,548.95, while the S&P 500 was ahead by 0.09% to 2,590.24 and the Nasdaq Composite by 0.20% to 6,778.06.
From a sector standpoint, the best performance was to be seen in Oil Equipment stocks (4.25%) as crude oil futures continued to advance, helped by the launch of an anti-corruption drive in Saudi Arabia at the weekend.
Going the other way, the worst performing areas of the market were: Mobile Telecommunications (6.21%), Telecommunications (-3.25%) and Paper (-2.18%).
To take note of, on Monday Credit Suisse's global equity strategy team struck a slightly cautious note on the outlook for stockmarkets, telling clients they continued to see "upside" for shares over the next "10 months or so", but added that "headwinds may start to appear in the second half of 2018".
"For now, we maintain an overweight stance toward equities, and underweight bonds, noting a risk that the 'final hurrah' could see more of an asset bubble emerge," strategist Andrew Garthwaite and his team said.
Credit Suisse's year-end 2018 target for the S&P 500 was 2,875 points, but Garthwaite said he was "a little bit more cautious" when it came to the backhalf of next year, seeing scope for a flat market or a "correction".
For their part, also on Monday strategists at JP Morgan were somewhat more upbeat, telling clients they remained "constructive" on global equities althought they believed it "prudent" to lock-in some profits in cyclical stocks.
Intriguingly, JP Morgan also believed US earnings had yet to price-in any prospect of tax cuts.
On the corporate front, shares in CVS Health were among the most active issues after the insurer posted better-than-expected quarterly revenues and earnings.
Michael Kors was also in the spotlight with shares rocketing after the iconic fashion brand reported a 26% jump in second-quarter profit, while Cardinal Health said profit in the first quarter fell 13%.
On the negative side of the ledger, stock in Sprint was trading sharply lower after it called of its merger with T-Mobile US.
Shares in chip designer Qualcomm were also moving to the upside after management confirmed that Broadcom was planning an unsolicited takeover, yet its shares were trading well below the mooted $70 bid price.
There were no major US data releases due, but New York Fed President William Dudley was due to make a speech later at the Economic Club of New York.