US stocks gain as bond yields pull back

NEW YORK - The tech-rich Nasdaq jumped Monday, leading major equity indices upward, as a retreat in US Treasury yields offset disappointing housing data.

Tech giants such as Facebook and Tesla advanced as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note pulled back from its highest level in more than a year. Fears over rising yields and higher inflation have weighed on tech stocks for much of the first quarter.

Analysts warned Monday's shift in yields may be fleeting.

"The yield rally has been relentless this year, but sometimes takes small breaks," said a note from JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1.2 percent at 13,377.51.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 percent to 32,731.20 while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 13,377.54.

Investors were cheered by positive US trials for AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine.

But on the downside, sales of existing homes in the United States fell 6.6 percent in February, a weaker-than-expected showing as tightening inventory pushed prices up and kept buyers away.

Among individual companies, Kansas City Southern shot up 10.8 percent after agreeing to be acquired by Canadian Pacific Railway in a deal valued at $29 billion that creates the first rail network linking Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Canadian Pacific dropped 5.8 percent.

AFP