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The stocks at the Wall Street on Monday edged higher after receiving strong gains in major indexes the previous week.
Meanwhile, the investors analysed that the gyrations in the US dollar as well as prices of crude oil may pose threat to their equities.
The stocks of energy sector emerged as the largest gainers as crude prices traded higher as the US dollar weakened further.
The action in the greenback has very closely impacted the stocks of late as traders keenly focused on the Federal Reserve Bank and its much-expected and awaited monetary policy tightening measure sometime later this year.
The 20-day correlation between the S&P 500 and the dollar index stood at -0.79. The dollar index fell 0.7 percent on the day.
Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey, said, “The market has been in a back-and-forth motion for the last couple of weeks, caught between the potential for rising interest rates and its impact on the dollar and the feeling by investors that the economy is gaining some strength.”
At 9:56 am EDT (1356 GMT), the S&P 500 added 2.93 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,111.03 and the Dow Jones industrial average surged 45.61 points, or 0.25 percent, to 18,173.26. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 10.19 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,016.23.
Dropping for the first time in nine sessions, the Nasdaq Biotech index was down 2.5 percent after running up about 20 percent from its low recorded in February.
On the NYSE, the advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by 1,839 to 958, for a 1.92-to-1 ratio. 1,234 issues dropped, while 1,168 advanced for a 1.06-to-1 ratio supporting decliners on the Nasdaq.
The Nasdaq Composite was posting 67 new highs and 12 new lows, the S&P 500 was recording 41 new 52-week highs and one new low.
