The stock market rose in afternoon trading Monday, as Apple (AAPL) shares reached a crucial point, and Monster Beverage (MNST) sold off.
The Nasdaq led with a 0.5% gain, a little off morning highs, as chip and internet stocks were among the morning's leaders. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, while the Dow Jones industrial average clung to a 0.1% gain. Volume was tracking lower compared with the same time Friday, although by a small difference on the Nasdaq. Winners topped losers by 3-to-2 on the NYSE and by 7-to-5 on the Nasdaq on the stock market today.
Apple shares climbed more than 1% to 99.84. Apple rose to 100.13 intraday. Shares met resistance around 100 in parts of May and June, so Apple now faces a key test in its rebound. Still, the stock remains in a longer-term downtrend and is far from any proper buy areas.
Continental Building Products (CBPX) broke out of a flat base, just the latest in a spate of breakouts in the building sector. Continental Building topped the 23.87 buy point, rising 3% to 24.10 in volume tracking at nearly four times its average -- a clear sign of institutional buying.
Installed Building Products (IBP), another leading stock in construction, hit a new high in heavy trading, up nearly 3%.
CDK Global (CDK) passed a 58.26 buy point of a flat base intraday, but is back to up 0.85% at 58.17. Volume was slightly below average. CDK Global provides software for auto dealerships to handle sales, marketing, inventory, financing and other tasks. Earnings have been improving sharply, rising a respective 15%, 26% and 27% in the past three quarters. Sales growth, however, has been only 1% to 2%.
On the downside, Monster Beverage tumbled 5% in heavy volume after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform. The stock was trading below the 50-day moving average, a level where support is now critical if Monster Beverage is to bounce back from the sell-off.
