Wall Street: all three bench-marks making advances and in the green

Wall Street was ending the session higher today at the start of the week with all three of the main benchmarks closing at two week highs.

A mix of upbeatness was in the air to start the week of off and was helped along in a spate of merger announcements,  including AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner, US manufacturing on the up and and a slight re-bound of risk on despite the fall-out in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 77.18 points, or 0.4%, higher at 18,222.89, however, the core of the positiveness came in a rally of 130 points earlier on in the session.Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co were the biggest movers in the blue-chip gauge. The S&P 500 index climbed 10.17 points, or 0.5%, to 2,151.32 while technology and consumer staples shares were posting the strongest gains. The Nasdaq Composite Index also advanced by 52.42 points, or 1%, to 5,309.83.

However, there is a sense on the street that we are entering territory of distribution. There have been surprisingly strong earnings reports this time around, but the technical picture is looking less positive and particularly in the S&P 500, which looks to be  completing a head and shoulders top. The DXY has also made another advance through the 98.80 resistance level that will be weighing on international corporations with overseas exposure.