Stocks in the U.S. increased as investors speculated on whether the report indicating a fall in orders for durable goods for July would stop cuts in the Federal Reserve stimulus program. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%, while the Dow added 23.54 points early.
Stocks rebounded in last week’s sessions after two straight weeks of losses following a report of a drop in home sales that eased worries that the country’s central bank would taper its stimulus program in September.
Officials have tried to weigh whether or not the economy has enough strength to prompt a lowering of their stimulus, which has helped to propel the S&P 500 to increase as much as 153% from its low of March 2009.
Over 65% of economists surveyed believe the cuts will come at the meeting of the Federal Reserve on September 17 and 18.
The Department of Commerce reported on Monday that orders for goods that are meant to last three years or more fell by 7.3%. That is the biggest drop since August of 2012 and followed an increase in June of 3.9%.
Economists had predicted the rate would drop by 4%, as orders waned for capital goods like electrical equipment and computers as well as for aircraft.
Seven out of the 10 major groups within the S&P 500 were up on Monday morning trading. Shares for producers of raw materials jumped 0.7% to pace increases.
Amgen was up over 8.5% to trade early at $114.54. The maker of pharmaceuticals agreed to purchase Onyx for a price of $125 per share for their outstanding stock.
Kyprolis, a drug for blood cancer, was approved by the FDA last year and Onyx has said it would increase growth by over $3 billion in sales before 2012.
