NEW YORK, US.- Investors shrugged off geopolitical jitters Monday, sending U.S. stocks broadly higher and extending the market's gains from last week.
Technology companies, health care stocks and industrial firms accounted for much of the rally as traders focused on the latest company earnings and deal news. Oil prices fell after surging last week ahead of the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program.
"It's some relief from the global political situation over the weekend," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. "The other thing is we've had over the last few weeks particularly this build up in pessimism, and that provided some opportunity for stocks to rally once the news of this event was out of the way."
The S&P 500 index rose 21.54 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,677.84. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 212.90 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,573.04. The Nasdaq added 49.63 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,156.28. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 13.52 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,563.03.
The market was in rally mode from the start of trading Monday, despite a sell-off among major indexes in Europe. Investors seemed to put aside concerns over the geopolitical tensions that led to Friday night's missile attack by the U.S., Britain and France on Syria's chemical weapons program. On Monday, the White House said it was considering imposing additional sanctions on Russia, a key ally of Syrian leader Bashar al Assad.