Huge rally at Wall Street

The gains were broad-based with technology and financials leading the rally

U.S. stocks on Monday, 26 March 2018 recorded their largest one-day percentage gains since the summer of 2015, with major indexes recouping nearly half of their losses from last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 669.40 points, or 2.8%, to 24,202.60, for its third-best point gain in history. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 227.88 points to 7,220.54, a rise of 3.3%. The S&P 500 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.

Among the blue-chip companies, all but one closed higher, led by Microsoft Corp , Intel Corp INTC, +6.32% and Apple Inc. General Electric fell 1.4% to $12.89, dropping below $13 for the first time since July 2009. The stock was the only one of the 30 Dow components to be lower on the day; GE has shed 57% over the past 12 months.

Intel Corp. rose 6.3% after Raymond James upgraded the stock to market perform, citing an improved supply/demand balance in the semiconductor industry.

Conversely, Facebook held the tech space's gain in check, rising just 0.4%, after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) confirmed that it has opened a non-public investigation into the company's privacy practices following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The social media giant was down as much as 6.5% on Monday, touching a nine-month low, before bouncing back.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries ended Monday on a mostly lower note, pushing yields higher across the curve; the yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note ticked up one basis point to 2.84%. The 2-yr yield advanced three basis points to 2.29% following a $30 billion 2-yr note auction that drew a high yield of 2.31% on a bid-to-cover of 2.91.

Investors did not receive any notable economic data on Monday, but will receive two reports - the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January (consensus 6.3%) and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March (consensus 129.5) - on Tuesday morning.

Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Monday, 26 March 2018. Gold futures rose for a fourth straight session on Monday, marking their highest settlement in just over five weeks as investors eyed trade tensions between the U.S. and China and their impact on the U.S. dollar and stock market. Prices for the metal found support as the dollar declined, but a rebound in U.S. stocks on the back of easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China kept a cap on the metal's gains.

April gold tacked on $5.10, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,355 an ounce. Prices marked their highest finish since Feb. 16 and they've now climbed for four sessions in a rowthe longest streak of such gains since January. Silver also ended higher, with the May contract up 0.6% to $16.684 an ounce.

On Friday, China had fired back at the Trump administration's move to add tariffs on at least $50 billion worth of goods. China's commerce ministry on Friday said it would impose tariffs on $3 billion in U.S. goods, with officials accusing the U.S. of violating global trade rules.

Against that backdrop, the dollar index remained under pressure Monday. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.5% after logging a weekly loss of 0.9%. Gold and the dollar typically move inversely, as moves in the U.S. unit can influence the attractiveness of commodities to holders of other currencies.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Monday, 26 March 2018 pulling back from the multiweek highs scored last week, with traders weighing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, as China marked the start of trading for its own crude futures contract.

May West Texas Intermediate crude lost 33 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $65.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose roughly 5.6% for last week.

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