NEW YORK -U.S. stocks rallied on Monday with the Dow and S&P 500 closing at record levels, as a round of strong economic data buoyed investor optimism for the economic reopening and a muted climb in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield kept inflation worries in check.
Despite strong economic data, gains were led by sectors that have underperformed recently, including communication services, consumer discretionary and tech, as the 10-year yield remained below a 14-month high hit last week. "At some point the cyclical move is discounted, these stocks, a lot of them had big moves and are valued above where they were in early February of 2020."Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 372.27 points, or 1.12per cent, to 33,525.48, the S&P 500 gained 57.91 points, or 1.44per cent, to 4,077.78 and the Nasdaq Composite added 225.49 points, or 1.67per cent, to 13,705.59.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is still about 3per cent below its February high as the recent spike in bond yields spurred inflation concerns and made growth stocks less attractive. But rising COVID-19 cases and resumed lockdowns in countries such as France recently have helped the appeal of tech names of late.