US stocks jumped on Monday after five straight sessions of declines, led by gains in technology shares, but a fall in the shares of the world's largest planemaker after a fatal crash in Ethiopia limited gains on the Dow.
Boeing Co, the best-performing Dow component this year by a wide margin, was down 6.4 per cent at $395.67 after many airlines grounded the company's new 737 MAX 8 passenger jet after a second deadly crash in just five months.
But the stock was well off its lows of the day, and that helped the market to march even higher in afternoon trading. The industrial sector reversed early losses to climb 0.5 per cent.
“After the weakness in the markets last week, things have gotten a little bit oversold,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
The day's move is especially impressive given the decline in Boeing. “It's a very strong sign of overall market strength,” James said.
All the major S&P sectors were trading higher, led by gains in the technology sector, which was up about 2 per cent. Chipmaker Nvidia Corp jumped after entering a $6.8 billion deal to buy Mellanox Technologies Ltd. The Israeli chip designer also rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 146.35 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 25,596.59, the S&P 500 gained 35.87 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 2,778.94 and the Nasdaq Composite added 136.63 points, or 1.84 per cent, to 7,544.78. Apple Inc rose 3.3 per cent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the iPhone maker's shares to “buy”.
Recent economic data showed US retail sales rose unexpectedly in January, some welcome news for the economy after a raft of weak December data as well as a sharp moderation in the pace of job growth in February.
The S&P 500 fell 2.2 per cent last week, its biggest decline since end-2018, as the tepid US jobs growth report added to fears of a slowing global economy.
In Washington, President Donald Trump told Congress to slash funding for foreign aid and the State Department and increase spending for the military and the wall he wants to build on the US-Mexico border in his 2020 budget, the opening move in his next funding fight with Congress.
Defence companies General Dynamics Corp, United Technologies Corp and Textron Inc rose on the news.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.49-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.97-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 56 new highs and 33 new lows.