The US markets extended their previous session’s gains and ended higher on Monday with the Dow Jones touching fresh record highs. Sentiments were positive amid a continued recovery in tech stocks. Investors were braced for key macroeconomic data. The January non-farm payroll data will be released on Wednesday and the January CPI inflation on Friday. The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report data is in the limelight because it is finally being released on February 11 after a government shutdown delayed it. The report is likely to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.
Sector wise, gold stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 6.1 percent. Besides, Brokerage and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable strength during the day.
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.20 points or 0.04 percent to 50,135.87, Nasdaq increased 207.45 points or 0.90 percent to 23,238.67 and S&P 500 added 32.52 points or 0.47 percent to 6,964.82.
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