| While the Nasdaq climbed 111.69 points(0.6%) to 18,791.81 and the S&P 500 rose 23 points (0.4%) to 5,893.62, the Dow edged down 55.39 points (0.1%) to 43,389.60.
Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of quarterly results from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA). Nvidia is scheduled to release its fiscal third quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.
The National Association of Home Builders released a report showing homebuilder confidence has improved by much more than anticipated in the month of November. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index climbed to 46 in November after rising to 43 in October.
Gold stocks moved sharply higher with a 4.2% spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks comes amid a substantial increase by the price of the precious metal. NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surged by 2.8%, reflecting considerable strength among computer hardware stocks.
Natural gas, steel and oil stocks also saw significant strength, while airline stocks moved downside.
Asia Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.8%.
The major European markets also turned mixed over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1%, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6%.
In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the session modestly higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.4 bps to 4.41% after reaching a high of 4.49%.
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