Wall Street logs gains on strong earnings

Healthcare and energy companies helped push stocks higher Monday on Wall Street.

Investors welcomed new data indicating the economy is strengthening. They also continued to focus on corporate-earnings reports, which have been mostly encouraging and have helped fuel optimism about a solid economic recovery this year.

The S&P 500 index rose 11.49 points (0.3%) to 4,192.66. The benchmark index’s latest gains follow a 5.2% surge in April, its best month since November 2020, when President Joe Biden was elected. It logged a gain of about 28% between November and April.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 238.38 (0.7%) to 34,113.23. The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed an early gain and lost 67.56 (0.5%) to 13,895.12.

Smaller companies, which have outgained the broader market this year, also had a good showing. The Russell 2000 index picked up 11 (0.5%) to 2,277.45.