Wall Street claws back some September losses

Stocks notched solid NEWYORK— gainsMondayasWallStreetclawed back someof its sharpandsudden September losses.

TheS&P500rose 1.6%, it’s third straightgain. Thebenchmarkindex was coming off its first four-week losing streak in more than a year and is on track to close out September with a loss of 4.2% after five months of gains.

The market’s gains were widespread, withmore than90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 higher. Big Tech stocks, which have been getting the most criticism for getting tooexpensivefollowingtheirstrong pandemicrun, did theheaviest lifting. Severalcompaniesannounced bigmergersandacquisitions, which helped to pushmarkets higher.

Optimism that Democrats and Republicans inCongress will reach a deal on another coronavirus relief bill also helped put investors in a buying mood, said Nela

Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

“There’s real concern about a secondwaveofinfections, concern thatwe’re just riding the coattails of growth that happened after the economyopenedupinMay,” Richardson said. “Anything that looks like new lifeblood for the economy is readas a positive stimulus.”

The S&P 500 rose 53.14 points to 3,351.60. TheDowJones IndustrialAverage gained 410.10 points, or 1.5%, to 27,584.06. The Nasdaq composite climbed 203.96 points, or 1.9%, to 11,117.53. Traders also bid up smaller company stocks, sending the Russell 2000 small-cap index up 35.43 points, or 2.4%, to 1,510.34.

One of the big worries hurting stocks this month has been fears that the market climbed too high and got too expensive through its 60% rally fromlateMarch into early September. But several companiesannouncedbigmergersand acquisitions, which show that at least some CEOs see value at current prices.