Read: As rising Treasury yields spook stock investors, March looms like a lion

How are stock benchmarks performing?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.13% rose 522 points, or 1.7%, to 31,454.
• The S&P 500 SPX, +2.05% climbed 64 points, or 1.7%, to 3873.
• The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +2.05% added 220 points, or 1.7%, to trade at 13,412.

Last week, the Dow DJIA, +2.13% put in a weekly decline of 1.8%, the S&P 500 SPX, +2.05% fell 2.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +2.05% was off 4.9% over the period. For the month, the Dow gained 3.2%, the S&P 500 rose 2.6% in February, and the Nasdaq eked out a gain of 0.9%.

What’s driving the market?

Stock markets were tilting higher to start the week and month after last week’s rocky trading highlighted the challenges that the economy and market will face as the COVID pandemic recedes.

“As long as the pace of rate increases can be offset by the impact of higher earnings, stocks can continue to rise in price. But when long rates spike, as they did last week, the headwinds are too strong and stocks pull back,” said James Meyer, chief investment officer at Tower Bridge Advisors.

Monday’s early moves higher were being attributed to a pullback in bond yields, which were arguably occurring at the same time that yields should be extending their gains, with new vaccines and more stimulus pointing to a sharp U.S. recovery from out of the virus-induced recession.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel voted unanimously to recommend the use of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine, coming after the Food and Drug Administration also green lighted the COVID vaccine, which is considered by some medical professionals a potential game-changer in getting people inoculated from the deadly pathogen.

J&J JNJ, +1.27% ‘s vaccine is fridge stable for three months and requires half the dose of competitors Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which must be stored at subzero temperatures. Some 4 million doses of the J&J vaccine are ready to be shipped soon, according to reports.

Also over the weekend, the House passed the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, which must be considered by the Senate. Some lawmakers are aiming finish the aid package before March 14, when some federal unemployment assistance expires.

Market participants are making the case that the surge in bond yields and the selloff in stocks, due to higher borrowing costs that rising rates imply, may have been overdone.

Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management, wrote that the so-called tantrum by markets may have found some momentary stabilization.

“This is most likely the end of this temper tantrum and presents opportunities for investors faced with dislocated markets,” he said in a Monday note.

However, the issues with rising rates, which the Federal Reserve has suggested is healthy because it reflects the hope for a better economy in the future, aren’t likely to just fade away.

“The odds are that in the second half of the year, when the economy fares better, this theme of a temper tantrum will once again kick in sending shock waves into growth,” Galy wrote.

Markets may glean more insights from Fed officials. Fed Governor Lael Brainard spoke on Monday, calling for more reforms to the structure of money-market funds and the Treasurys market.

In economic data, the Institute for Supply Management will release its gauge of manufacturing activity at 10 a.m.

Which stocks are in focus?

• Twitter Inc. TWTR announced a $1.25 billion convertible bond offering in a private placement Monday, with the proceeds to be used to pay any sums due on its 1% convertible senior notes due 2021 and for general corporate purposes.
• The group of “meme” stocks, led by videogame retailer GameStop Corp. GME that have been volatile in recent weeks as investors on a Reddit subgroup have egged each other on, were active again in premarket trade Monday. GameStop shares were up 5.5%, while shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, the world’s biggest cinema chain, were up 8.8%. BlackBerry Ltd BB was up 3.9%.
• Rocket Lab USA Inc. announced Monday it will be going public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Vector Acquisition Corp. VACQ, in a deal that values the launch and space systems company at $4.1 billion. 
• Shares of NavSight Holdings Inc. NSH rallied 10% on Monday, after the SPAC announced a merger that will take space-based data and analytics company Spire Global Inc. public.
• Shares of Royal Caribbean Group RCL fell 2.9% after the cruise operator said it has commenced a $1.5 billion public stock offering.
• Walmart Inc. WMT said Monday it would scrap the $35 minimum for Express delivery, a service that is currently offered in nearly 3,000 of its stores. 
• CAE Inc. CAE announced Monday an agreement to buy L3Harris Technologies Inc.‘s LHX military training business for $1.05 billion.

Which assets are on the move?

• The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.424% down 4 basis points to 1.417%, as Treasury markets started to stabilize after last week’s turbulent trading. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
• Gold futures GC00, +0.51% were up 0.5% to $1,737.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. benchmark crude futures CL.1, +0.57% were flat at $61.50 a barrel.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 benchmark SXXP, +1.56% rose 1.4%, and the London’s FTSE 100 UKX, +1.41% was up 1.3%. The Nikkei 225 NIK, +2.41% jumped 2.4%, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +1.21% gained 1.2%.
• The dollar strengthened against its major rival currencies, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.25% up 0.1%,