LONDON: U.S. stocks rallied on Monday, posting their biggest advance in three weeks, as better-than-expected earnings from companies helped deliver a dollop of confidence to global-equity markets after a rout in stocks on Friday.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.92% closed 19.22 points, or 0.9%, higher at 2,100.40, with the technology sector leading broad-based gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.17% jumped 208.63 points, or 1.2%, to 18,034.93, with 24 of its 30 components finishing in positive territory. IBM Corp, Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc. led the gains.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.27% ended the session up 62.79 points, or 1.3%, to 4,994.60.
Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said Monday’s action was likely an unwinding of the Friday selloff.
“Earnings reports so far are coming in above expectations, but investors are watching the impact of the stronger dollar closely this quarter,” Cieszynski said.
“Whenever there are big shifts in currency or commodity markets, it takes time to play out. As corporations had currency hedges in place, we did not see much impact in the fourth quarter,” he said. “Now it is all about how bad the impact was during the first quarter,” he noted.
