U.S. stocks rallied to near session highs on Monday, after better-than-forecast economic data out of China and Japan.
China’s exports beat expectations and rose more than expected in August. Exports rose 7.2 percent in August from a year earlier and imports rose 7 percent, the Customs Administration said on Sunday.
Separate data revealed Japan's economy expanded at a faster pace than initially expected in the second quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) for the April-June period was revised upward to an annualized 3.8 percent expansion from a preliminary 2.6 percent, data from the Cabinet Office showed on Monday.
“Well you know, it’s good data out of Asia. It shows that the economies are getting better, not only here in America, but around the world,” said Alan Valdes, vice president of trading at DME Securities.
“If you look at the data last week on Monday when we were on holiday, even Spain and Italy and Greece had better numbers. So things will start at a snail’s pace, but getting better. So that’s what we want to see,” said Valdes.
The market seemed to rally in afternoon trading on Monday despite worries about potential U.S. military strikes in Syria.
“Right now the market’s telling us that we’re not going to go to war,” Valdes said. “It seems Congress has a hold on it. According to what I hear, if they took a vote today, they would vote against going to war. There’s been talk that Obama may go to the U.N. We know the U.N. is going to decay this because of China and Russia, so nothing is going to happen in the U.N. So it might be awhile before we see any movement from the United States in regards to Syria.”
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 133.70 points or 0.9 percent, to 15,056.20. The S&P 500 gained 14.34 points or 0.87 percent, to 1,669.56. The Nasdaq Composite added 41.15 points or 1.12 percent, to 3,701.38.
