Bargain Hunters Help Wall Street Extend Rally

Wall Street rallied to close sharply higher on Monday as investors sought bargains among sectors hardest-hit by the coronavirus recession, now limping toward its ninth month.

All three major US stock indexes made solid gains on the heels of the longest weekly losing streak in over a year for both the S&P 500 and the Dow.

But energy and financials, which suffered the most bruising blows from the economic shutdown, enjoyed the largest percentage gains among major S&P 500 sectors, all of which ended the session in the black.

"Today's market is being led by energy and financials, but it's a very well-balanced market," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "Every sector is participating in this rally."

However, even with Monday's jump, the indexes are only days away from closing the books on their first monthly declines since March, when markets were sent into a freefall by pandemic-related lockdowns.

"Given that it's been a weak month, some rebalancing may be occurring," Ghriskey added. "The rebalancing would move allocations to equities and some of that may be happening today."

The third quarter also draws to a close on Wednesday, and despite September's expected loss, the S&P and the Nasdaq are on course for their best two-quarter winning streaks since 2009 and 2000, respectively.

Market leaders Apple and Amazon once again gave the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.51 percent, to 27,584, the S&P 500 gained 1.61 percent, to 3,352 and the Nasdaq Composite added 204 points, or 1.87 percent, to 11,118.

American Airlines Group Inc announced late Friday that it has secured a US$5.5 billion government loan, and might access more. The news sent the commercial carrier's stock up 3.8 percent. (Reuters)