U.S. stocks moved broadly higher on Wall Street in early trading Monday, continuing the market’s upward momentum as it comes off its best quarter in nearly a decade.
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Technology companies and banks led the early gains. Those sectors are typically favored by investors when they have more confidence that the economy will continue growing. Meanwhile, consumer product makers and utility companies, which are considered more safe-play investments, lagged the market.
Bond yields continued rising in another sign that investors are confident in the economy’s growth. That came as a welcome relief following a sharp drop in bond yields to their lowest levels in more than a year.
The market is coming off its biggest quarterly gain in a decade.
Intel was a standout among technology companies with a 1.2 percent gain. JPMorgan Chase climbed 2.5 percent and Bank of America jumped 2.7 percent. Media analytics firm ComScore plunged 21 percent after it lost two top executives.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 232 points, or 0.9 percent, to 26,156 as of 10:05 a.m. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9 percent.
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LYFT LOSES LUSTER: Lyft plunged 8 percent on its second full day of trading, falling below its initial public offering price of $72 a share. The ride-hailing company has consistently lost money but has posted supercharged growth.
Its IPO had been seen as a harbinger for other hotly anticipated offerings in fast-growing, privately held companies such as Uber, Pinterest and Slack.
THE ECONOMY: Investors were also looking over a mixed bag of economic reports. Retail sales in the U.S. fell in February as consumers pulled back spending. Manufacturing continued lagging in Europe. An economic report out of China over the weekend showed growth in exports, employment and orders.
