The US markets ended sharply higher on Monday as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the steep drop seen last week, which dragged the Nasdaq down to its lowest levels in nearly a month. Optimism the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates later this month has also contributed to the strength on markets despite lingering concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the release of closely watched reports on consumer and producer price inflation later this week.
The reports are expected to show a slowdown by the annual rate of consumer price growth but an acceleration by the annual rate of producer price growth. on the sectoral front, airline stocks saw substantial strength on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 2.3 percent to its best closing level in over a month. JetBlue (JBLU) helped lead the sector higher, spiking by 7.2 percent after Bank of America upgraded its rating on the airline's stock to Neutral from Underperform. Networking, banking and computer hardware stocks also saw notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 484.18 points or 1.2 percent to 40,829.59, Nasdaq rose 193.77 points or 1.16 percent to 16,884.6 and S&P 500 was down by 62.63 points or 1.16 percent to 5,471.05.