June 17, 2013- Stocks Close Higher Well Off Daily Highs as S&P Looks to Confirm Support

While lingering worries about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program generated some selling pressure in afternoon trading on Monday, stocks managed to end the day mostly higher after seeing an early rally on the heels of some upbeat economic data. The major averages finished the session well off their best levels of the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 109.67 points or 0.7 percent to 15,179.85, the Nasdaq advanced 28.58 points or 0.8 percent to 3,452.13 and the S&P 500 climbed 12.31 points or 0.8 percent to 1,639.04. The early strength on Wall Street came on the heels of the release of a pair of upbeat economic reports, including a report from the National Association of Home Builders showing that its reading on homebuilder confidence jumped to a seven-year high in June. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index soared to 52 in June from 44 in May. Economists had been expecting the index to show a much more modest increase to a reading of 45. With the much bigger than expected increase, the index climbed above 50 for the first time since April of 2006 and reached its highest level since hitting 54 in March of 2006. A reading above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.