S&P 500, Nasdaq bounce back to extend gains to 4th day

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – US stock exchanges closed mixed on Monday, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq climbed back to positive territory to extend their winning streak to the fourth consecutive day.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 124 points, or 0.84%, to close at 15,021 as AMC Entertainment and Coinbase jumped 5.6% and 4.5%, respectively. Apple shares were up 1.2% after the firm released its new products of MacBook Pro, M1 chip, AirPods, and HomePod.

The S&P 500 was up 15 points, or 0.34%, to 4,486. Tesla stock price increased 3.2%.

The Dow Jones, however, was down 36 points, or 0.1%, to 35,258 as the blue-chip index ended its three-day winning streak. Shares of Walt Disney and IBM lost 3% and 1.6%, respectively.

Despite a decline earlier with positive sentiment, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was up again by adding 0.12% to 16.32.

The dollar index was almost unchanged at 93.96, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 0.8% to 1.589%.

Oil prices reversed course to show some losses, with international benchmark Brent crude trading at $84.14 with a 0.8% decline, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $81.53 – a 0.24% decrease.

Precious metals were down, with gold losing 0.17% to $1,764 per ounce and silver trimming 0.36% to $23.2.

After hitting $60,000 on Friday for the first time in six months, since April 18, price of Bitcoin was trading around $61,450 for a 1.6% gain.

US-based ProShares, which provides specialized exchange-traded products, announced earlier that it plans to launch the much-anticipated first Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the New York Stock Exchange, with a ticker BITO, on Tuesday.

"BITO will offer investors an opportunity to gain exposure to bitcoin returns conveniently, through a brokerage account. BITO can be bought and sold like a stock and eliminates the need for an account at a cryptocurrency exchange and for a crypto wallet," the company said in a statement.

ETFs, which are similar to mutual funds, are types of investment funds that can be traded on stock exchanges, and they can hold assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities.