Tech, health care stocks lead rally

Investors shrugged off geopolitical jitters Monday, sending U.S. stocks broadly higher and extending the market's gains from last week.

Technology companies, health care stocks and industrial firms accounted for much of the rally as traders focused on the latest company earnings and deal news. Oil prices fell after surging last week ahead of the U.S.led missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program.

“It's some relief from the global political situation over the weekend,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “The other thing is we've had over the last few weeks particularly this build up in pessimism, and that provided some opportunity for stocks to rally once the news of this event was out of the way.”

The S&P 500 index rose 21.54 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,677.84. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 212.90 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,573.04. The Nasdaq added 49.63 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,156.28. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 13.52 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,563.03.

The market was in rally mode from the start of trading Monday, despite a selloff among major indexes in Europe.

Investors seemed to put aside concerns over the geopolitical tensions that led to Friday night's missile attack by the U.S., Britain and France on Syria's chemical weapons program. On Monday, the White House said it was considering imposing additional sanctions on Russia, a key ally of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Instead, the market shifted its focus to corporate America. Wall Street is forecasting the strongest growth in seven years for S&P 500 companies, and the hope has been that healthy profit reports will steady the market following a rough couple of months. Over the long term, stock prices tend to track the progress of corporate profits.

Investors welcomed J.B. Hunt Transport Services' latest quarterly results Monday. The transportation company said shipping volumes grew in the first quarter and rates increased. Its shares climbed 6.2 percent to $119.75.

Bond prices didn't move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 2.83 percent.