Stocks end with solid gains after choppy start

A rally in technology companies helped stocks overcome a shaky start Monday, extending Wall Street’s solid gains from last week.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% after initially sliding 0.6% following weakness in overseas markets as the global tally of coronavirus infections approaches 9 million. Investors are weighing the risks that rising coronavirus cases could pose to hopes for an economic recovery.

That’s led traders to bid up stocks in technology companies that offer services online, a thriving conduit of commerce through the outbreak. Investors are also favoring companies that are poised to do well now that more businesses have been given the go-ahead to reopen. Retailers like Gap, Best Buy and other companies that rely on consumer spending rose Monday, outweighing losses in health care, financial and other sectors. Airlines and cruise line operators were among the biggest decliners.

Traders are also continued to hedge their bets by snapping up traditionally less risky assets, such as government bonds and gold, which also rose. Bond yields were mixed.

The price of U.S. crude oil settled above $40 a barrel for the first time since early March, before the economy all but shut down completely.

The S&P 500 gained 20.12 points to 3,117.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 153.50 points, or 0.6%, to 26,024.96 after earlier sliding 203 points. The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, climbed 110.35 points, or 1.1%, to 10,056.47, extending its winning streak to a seventh day.

Small company stocks, which have lagged behind the broader market’s rebound that began in April, also notched solid gains. The Russell 2000 index added 14.89 points, or 1.1%, to 1,433.53.

The S&P 500 was coming off its fourth weekly gain in the past five weeks. Encouraging economic data, including retail sales and hiring, have helped stoke optimism among investors that the reopening of businesses in the U.S. and other countries will pull the economy out of its recession relatively quickly. But a rise in coronvairus cases is clouding the prospects for an economic recovery. On Friday, stocks sold off after Apple said it would be temporarily closing 11 stores again in four states, citing a surge in new virus cases.