Stocks rose Monday, closing near the highs of the day. The Nasdaq broke a seven-day losing streak.
The Nasdaq rose 0.9%, the S&P 500 0.8% and the Dow Jones industrial average 0.7%. Volume was lower than Friday on both exchanges, according to preliminary data in the stock market today.
In the morning, the ISM manufacturing index eased to 50.8 in April from 51.8 in March, indicating an economy that is slowing, but still growing.
West Texas intermediate for June delivery fell $1.07 to $44.85 a barrel, a 2.23% drop. That made energy stocks the day's worst performers. The oil and gas drilling industry group dropped 2.5%.
Metals product distributors and wood products were the best performers, both up 4%-plus.
On the NYSE, advancing stocks led decliners by a 5-3 margin. Among Nasdaq stocks advancers led by a 9-6 margin.
Chinese website Baidu (BIDU) fell 8% in heavy volume following reports that regulators were investigating the search engine in connection with the death of a Chinese student suffering from a rare form of cancer. The student found an alternative treatment on an advertisement posted on Baidu that turned out to be unsuccessful.
Is Baidu still the market leader it once was? Check out the numbers in IBD's Stock Checkup.
The stock plunged through its 50-day moving average, where it had seemingly found support Friday after an upbeat earnings report.
Amazon (AMZN)rose nearly 4% in above-average volume, a day after reporting a blowout first quarter. It's closing in on a 696.44 all-time high and is now extended from its latest breakout.
Among IBD 50 stocks, 46 were higher and four were lower. The top performer was Broadsoft (BSFT), up nearly 5%, after staging a huge bullish reversal. Before the open, it reported blowout earnings of 37 cents a share, a 54% increase from a year earlier. Analysts estimates called for 26 cents.
