U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 200 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.58% to 40,581.00 while the NASDAQ rose 1.09% to 16,872.46. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.85% to 5,454.18.

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Methanex Corporation MEOH disclosed that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OCI Global‘s international methanol business for $2.05 billion.

Equities Trading UP

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $67.75 while gold traded up 0.3% at $2,532.20.

Silver traded up 1.3% to $28.555 on Monday, while copper rose 1.5% to $4.1335.

Euro zone

The BNP Paribas Real Estate Construction PMI in Ireland edged higher to 50.0 in August from 49.9 in July.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.48%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declining 1.42%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.06% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.46%.

Foreign exchange reserves in Singapore declined to SGD 501.3 billion in August compared to SGD 506.4 billion a month ago. The gauge for Japan's service sector rose to 49.0 in August versus 47.5 in the prior month, while the country' economy expanded by 2.9% on an annualized basis during the second quarter.

China’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 0.6% in August from 0.5% in the prior month, while producer prices fell by 1.8% year-over-year in August.

Economics

The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index rose 1.2% month-over-month in August compared to a 2.8% gain in July.

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