Dow, S&P 500 post best gains since 2015 Market Snapshot

By Anora M. Gaudiano, MarketWatch , Ryan Vlastelica

Reuters

U.S.-China trade tensions set to ease?

U.S. stocks on Monday recorded their largest one-day percentage gains since the summer of 2015, with major indexes recouping nearly half of their losses from last week.

While the rally coincided with the reports that the U.S. and China are conducting behind-the-scenes talks to avert a global trade war, some analysts noted that the bounce was technical, rather than driven by fundamentals or sentiment.

What are the main benchmarks doing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +0.08% climbed 669.40 points, or 2.8%, to 24,202.60, for its third-best point gain in history. Among the blue-chip companies, all but one closed higher, led by Microsoft Corp /zigman2/quotes/207732364/composite MSFT +0.06% , Intel Corp /zigman2/quotes/203649727/composite INTC -6.41% and Apple Inc. /zigman2/quotes/202934861/composite AAPL +1.37% .

The S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +0.25% rallied 70.29 points, or 2.7%, to 2,658.55, recouping all of its Friday losses. The gains were broad-based, with technology and financials leading the rally, up 4% and 3.2% respectively.

The Nasdaq Composite Index /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP +0.95% advanced 227.88 points to 7,220.54, a rise of 3.3%.

Percentage gains for all three benchmark were the largest since August 2015, according to FactSet, when the market was in the midst of a correction on fears over China’s economic growth.

The day’s gains come after a protracted period of weakness for Wall Street that left the main indexes near their February lows on Friday.

Read: The Dow and S&P 500 have already doubled the number of 1% moves seen in all of 2017

What’s driving markets?

Global trade tensions are expected to remain front and center for investors in what will be a holiday-shortened week, with markets scheduled to close in observance of Good Friday.

But equity traders seemed to welcome reports that China and the U.S. have been holding discussions in a bid to help stave off a trade war.

What are strategists saying?

“Big positive moves in stocks tend to come after biggest down days, and today’s action looks like a technical bounce, just because markets were so weak for days,” said Mike Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Read: Dow’s surge belies fact that stock market is on the brink of an absolute breakdown

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