Wall Street rallied sharply on Monday, juiced by a jump in Apple shares and gains from energy stocks that were backed by stronger oil prices. The S&P 500 rose 20.05 points, or 1%, to 2,066.66. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 175.39 points, or 1%, to 17,710.71. The Nasdaq composite index gained 57.78 points, or 1.2%, to 4,775.46
Oil prices hit six-month highs on Monday on global supply outages and long-time bear Goldman Sachs taking a more positive view on the market, although a stockpile build at the U.S. storage hub for crude futures limited gains. Brent crude futures ttraded flat at $48.96 per barrel in early Asia, after having risen 2.4% on Monday, when it rallied to $49.47 earlier, its highest since early November, in a test towards $50. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures changed hands at $47.77, maintaining their 3.3% gains on Monday.
Precious and industrial metals prices closed higher. Gold gained $1.50 to $1,274.20 an ounce, silver rose 2 cents to $17.15 an ounce and copper added 2 cents to $2.09 a pound.
U.S. interest rate policy likely be key focus this week. In addition to planned remarks from several Federal Reserve officials, the Fed is scheduled on Wednesday to release minutes of its last meeting. Investors will be looking for clues as to whether the central bank is likely to raise rates from low levels that have helped push up stocks and other assets since the financial crisis. A report on Friday showed retail sales rose a solid 3% last month compared with the previous year, suggesting the Fed may be more likely to raise rates.
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