U.S. stocks rose slightly on Monday to start June trading as investors hoped to extend gains seen across both May and April.
The Dow Jones Industrials squeezed out gains of 31.03 points to 25,414.14,
The S&P 500 crept up 4.34 points to 3,048.65.
The NASDAQ Composite picked up 29.64 points to 9,519.51
Stocks closely linked to the economy reopening led the slight gains. Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean were all up at least 4%. Hilton Worldwide climbed 2.6% and Marriott International advanced 4.8%. American Airlines took on 6.3% worth of lift, and Delta advanced 4.3%, respectively, while United soared 6.2%.
Those gains were capped, however, by a 7.6% drop in Pfizer shares.
The muted trading on Monday came after the S&P 500 and Dow each gained at least 3% last week while the NASDAQ advanced 1.8% to close out May. Those gains were propelled by increasing bets by traders that the global economy will successfully reopen after the coronavirus forces a shutdown of most economic activity.
Last week’s gains led the major averages to their first back-to-back monthly advances since late 2019. The Dow advanced 4.3%, and S&P 500 gained 4.5%, for May while the NASDAQ amassed 6.8%.
More than six million coronavirus cases have been confirmed globally, including over 1.7 million in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. However, Novavax said last week is started Phase 1 clinical trials for its coronavirus vaccine candidate while Moderna said May 18 its early stage vaccine trial had yielded positive results.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 0.67% from Friday’s 0.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices handed over 78 cents to $34.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.30 to $1,753.00 U.S. an ounce.