12:53 PM EDT, 08/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose while most government bond yields fell in midday trading on Monday.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4% to 17,703.5, with the S&P 500 up 0.5% to 5,580.1 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.4% higher at 40,835.5. All sectors were up in a broad-based move intraday, with communication services and consumer discretionary leading the gainers.

In economic news, the Conference Board's measure of leading indicators declined by 0.6% in July, below expectations for a 0.4% drop in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a 0.2% decrease in June.

Online retail sales rose 1.3% in Q2, slower than a 1.6% gain in the prior quarter, and were up 6.7% from a year earlier, the US Census Bureau reported.

Redfin (RDFN) said existing US home sales fell 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million from a year earlier, marking the lowest for a July in records dating back to 2012. The figure gained 0.6% from June.

Most Treasury yields fell, with the 10-year down 3.4 basis points to 3.86%, and the two-year rate slid 2.1 basis points to 4.05%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2.4% to $74.79 a barrel.

In company news, Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) said it agreed to acquire artificial intelligence infrastructure solutions company ZT Systems for roughly $4.9 billion as the chipmaker looks to strengthen its AI data center growth strategy. Its shares rose 2.5%.

Estee Lauder ( EL ) issued a downbeat earnings outlook for fiscal 2025 amid continued softening demand in China, while the cosmetics company's Chief Executive Fabrizio Freda disclosed plans to retire next year.