Technology companies drive a broad rally on Wall Street

Technology companies powered a rally on Wall Street Monday that gave the market its third straight gain.

The surge in tech stocks followed a decision by the U.S. to give Chinese telecom giant Huawei another 90 days to buy equipment from American suppliers. Chipmakers including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron, all rose.

The decision to give Huawei more time to purchase goods from U.S. companies appeared to help put those investors eager to see any signs of progress in the trade war between the U.S. and China in a buying mood.

The buying went well beyond technology, with communication services stocks, health care companies and retailers notching solid gains.

Financial stocks also rose as bond prices headed lower, sending yields higher. Energy stocks climbed following a 2.4 percent increase in U.S. crude oil prices.

“Today is an up day because we have some better news on China,” said Kate Warne, chief investment strategist at Edward Jones. “There’s likely to be many of these 1 percent higher, 1 percent lower days, as investors search for a longerterm direction. And that’s what we don’t have yet.”

The S&P 500 climbed 34.97 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,923.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 249.78 points, or 1 percent, to 26,135.79. The index briefly gained 336 points.

The Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, rose 106.82 points, or 1.3 percent, to 8,002.81.

Smaller company stocks also had a good day. The Russell 2000 index gained 15.21 points, or 1 percent, to 1,508.85.

Major stock indexes in Europe also finished solidly higher.

Despite their recent gains, U.S. stock indexes are on track to finish the month with losses. The market has been highly volatile all month as investors try to parse conflicting signals on the U.S. economy and determine whether a recession is on the horizon. A key concern is that the escalating and costly trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies will hamper growth around the globe.

Last week, many stock indexes around the world struck their lowest levels this year, before a late rally suggested some calm was returning to the markets in what is a traditionally lowvolume time of the year. Analysts say the concerns that drove last week’s selloff could resurface at any time.

“Investors just need to be prepared for a lot swings up and down as markets move,” Warne said.

The market’s moves on Monday suggested investors’ anxiety took a back seat to optimism over the U.S.’s decision on Huawei, at least for a day.

This could be seen in the bond market, where yields rose. That’s a reversal from much of August, when yields mostly fell as investors sought out the safety of government bonds as the U.S.China conflict escalated. On Monday, the yield on the 10year Treasury note climbed to 1.61 percent from 1.54 percent late Friday