Stocks are powering higher Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 500 points, as the market claws back some of its massive losses last week, when it slumped into a “correction” for the first time in two years. Technology companies and banks, some of the biggest winners on the market over the past year, are up the most.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500, the benchmark for many index funds, gained 41 points, or 1.6%, to 2,660 as of 2:10 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow was up 466 points, or 1.9%, to 24,657. It had risen as much as 548 earlier, led by big gains for Boeing and Apple.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 114 points, or 1.7%, to 6,988. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks advanced 16 points, or 1.1%, to 1,494.
It took just nine days for stocks to plunge 10% from their latest peak set January 26. That’s known on Wall Street as a market “correction.” According to LPL Financial, that’s the swiftest move from a record high to a correction for the S&P 500, the most widely used market benchmark. The index rose 1.5% Friday but still wound up with its worst weekly loss in more than two years.
Despite the two-day recovery, the S&P 500 is down 7.4% from its recent high, and investors expect far more volatility in the stock market than they did two weeks ago.
GAINERS: Retailers, apparel makers and other companies that focus on consumers made some of the largest gains. They held up relatively well during the steep downturn over the last two weeks, a sign that investors expect shoppers to keep spending and the economy to keep growing. On Monday General Motors picked up 80 cents, or 2%, to $42.28 and Netflix climbed $5.75, or 2.3%, to $255.22. It’s up 33% since the beginning of the year.
Technology companies also rose. They have slumped recently after winning a big portion of the market’s gains over the last year. Apple gained $6.29, or 4%, to $162.70 while Cisco Systems rose $1.28, or 3.2%, to $40.81. Chipmakers Broadcom and Qualcomm each climbed 3.2% after CNBC reported that the companies will meet this week to discuss Broadcom’s $121 billion offer to buy Qualcomm.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 57 cents, or 1%, to $59.77 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 31 cents to $63.10 a barrel in London.
Hess added $2.09, or 5%, to $44.21 and Occidental Petroleum picked up $2.30, or 3.4%, to $70.48.
Oil prices have dropped since reaching long-time highs in late January, when U.S. crude peaked at $66 a barrel. The S&P 500 energy index is down 12% over the last month.
DEFENSE DEAL: Defense contractor General Dynamics will spend almost $7 billion to acquire internet technology company CSRA. The Trump administration has been pushing defense spending aggressively higher. CSRA climbed $9.58, or 31.1%, to $40.40 Monday. General Dynamics added 4 cents to $212.14.
FOX HUNT? Twenty-First Century Fox picked up 91 cents, or 2.5%, to $36.64 after The Wall Street Journal reported that cable and Internet provider Comcast is still interested in buying Fox’s entertainment divisions and could make another offer. Disney agreed to buy Fox’s movie and television studios and some cable and international TV businesses in December for about $52.4 billion in stock. On Monday Comcast stock added 39 cents, or 1%, to $38.96 while Disney picked up 98 cents, or 1%, to $104.07.
Comcast stock slipped 10 cents to $38.47 while Disney added 32 cents to $103.41.
BONDS: Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note stayed at 2.86%.
High dividend companies continued to struggle. Real estate investment trusts declined and utilities didn’t do as well as the rest of the market. They have taken bigger losses than any other S&P 500 sectors this year. Hospital property company HCP fell 45 cents, or 1.9%, to $22.77 and Boston Properties shed $1.26, or 1.1%, to $114.09.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 108.73 yen from 108.53 yen. The euro rose to $1.2282 from $1.2231.
WEEK AHEAD: Investors will watch U.S. inflation and retail sales figures on Wednesday particularly closely as they review monthly reports from the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Retail Federation. Inflation, in particular, will be of interest as it could affect expectations of more rate increases the Federal Reserve. Fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes were one of the triggers of last week’s stock market sell-off.
METALS: Gold rose $10.70 to $1,326.40 an ounce. Silver jumped 43 cents, or 2.7%, to $16.57 an ounce. Copper added 5 cents, or 1.7%, to $3.09 a pound.
OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX jumped 1.4% while the CAC 40 in France advanced 1.2%. The FTSE 100 in Britain added 1.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2% and Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.9%. Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.
