MarketView for April 28

Summary

It was a volatile trading session on Wall Street on Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average managing to end the session with a modest gain, while the Nasdaq closed slightly lower after rebounding from a fall of over 1 percent. .Gains in Apple and Pfizer helped offset another round of selling in some high-growth tech shares, while at the same time pushing the S&P 500 index into positive territory.

Leading the Nasdaq down was Amazon, which extended Friday's sharp drop a day after its earnings report. Amazon.com ended the day down 2.4 percent to close at $296.58. High-growth stocks have been battered in recent weeks as investors have pulled out of the tech and biotech space.

A flurry of merger and acquisition activity in the pharmaceutical sector increased speculation of further deal-making. Shares of Pfizer gained 4.2 percent to $32.04 after the pharmaceutical company is said to be working on its next move in a potential bid to take over Britain's AstraZeneca.

Apple rose 3.9 percent to $594.09. The stock has gained 13.2 percent since the close on Wednesday, when Apple reported results after the bell. Bank of America fell 6.3 percent to $14.95 after the bank said it will suspend a planned increase in its quarterly dividend as well as its latest stock-buyback program because it miscalculated a measure of the capital on its books.

Chinese Internet stocks also fell after China's government ordered the removal of four U.S. television shows from video websites. Baidu ended the day down 7.4 percent to $150.93.

Forest Laboratories said it would buy Furiex Pharmaceuticals for up to $1.46 billion. Furiex Pharmaceuticals saw its share price rise 28.6 percent to end the day at $103.05 while Forest Laboratories shares shed 0.4 percent to close at $89.50.

Agenus was up 19.5 percent to $3.06 after the biotechnology company said it signed a deal with Merck to discover and develop antibody-based treatments against cancer.

After the bell, shares of in-flight wireless Internet services provider Gogo fell 19.2 percent to $14.85 after AT&T (T.N) said it plans to launch an in-flight connectivity service.

During the day’s trading activity, approximately 7.4 billion shares changed hands on major equity exchanges, a number that was above the 6.5 billion share average so far this month, according to data from BATS Global Markets.

Pending Home Sales Exceed Expectations

Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes rose in March for the first time in nine months, a sign the housing market could be stabilizing after suffering a setback from a rise in interest rates and a severe winter.

The National Association of Realtors reported on Monday that its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, increased 3.4 percent to 97.4. The increase beat economists' expectations for a 1.0 percent advance.

These contracts usually become sales after a month or two, and March's rise suggested home re-sales could rebound in the months ahead.

Sales were down last summer after the Fed signaled it would soon reduce its economic stimulus efforts, pushing interest rates higher. A harsh winter also helped keep potential buyers out of the market.

The economy hit a slow patch over the winter, which was particularly harsh in much of the country, but growth is expected to rebound during the rest of 2014. The Labor Department is expected to report on Friday the economy created 210,000 jobs in April.

Existing home sales had fallen to their lowest levels in more than 1-1/2 years, but details of Monday's report suggested the downward trend in sales had probably run its course, with housing inventory rising and more first-time buyers coming into the market.

Despite last month's surge, pending home sales were still down 7.9 percent compared to March of last year. Contracts increased in the Northeast, in the South and in the West. They fell in the Midwest.