Investing.com - U.S. stocks were higher on Monday, as dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke weighed on the dollar while investors awaited the release of U.S. pending home sales data later in the day.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.77%, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.82%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.72%.
Stocks moved higher after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech that further monetary accommodation is needed to bring about big gains in the U.S. jobs market, which he described as “far from normal”, despite a recent improvement.
Meanwhile, market sentiment was also boosted by reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble will support an initiative to combine the region’s two bailout funds, the European Financial Stability Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.
Euro zone finance ministers are to meet on Friday to discuss enlarging the region’s financial firewall by combining the EUR440 billion EFSF and the EUR500 billion ESM to give a total fund of EUR700 billion to fight the debt crisis.
Lions Gate Entertainment was one of the top gainers, with shares jumping 4.96% after the movie "The Hunger Games" opened with an impressive USD155 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices, logging Hollywood's third-highest domestic film opening and beating expectations.
Energy stocks also posted strong gains as shares in oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil jumped 1.10%, while Chevron climbed 0.86% and mining company 3M Co advanced 0.69%.
In the internet sector, Yahoo rose 0.62% after the company appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb.
Apple was also on the upside, adding 0.35% after BATS Global Markets CEO Joe Ratterman apologized over the weekend for a system failure that caused the exchange operator to trade erroneously for less than a penny on its market debut Friday and resulted in Apple's shares being temporarily halted.
Elsewhere, financial stocks were broadly higher. Shares in Bank of America jumped 0.81% and JP Morgan rose 0.60%, while Citigroup and Goldman Sachs added 0.60% and 0.44% respectively.
Bank of America also unveiled a pilot program with 1000 customers that will allow them pardon of their outstanding mortgage debt in exchange of transferring their homes’ title to the bank.
Other stocks in focus included property services firm Apollo Group, due to release its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.52%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.40%, Germany's DAX jumped 1.10%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.71%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index eased up 0.1%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.77%, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.82%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.72%.
Stocks moved higher after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech that further monetary accommodation is needed to bring about big gains in the U.S. jobs market, which he described as “far from normal”, despite a recent improvement.
Meanwhile, market sentiment was also boosted by reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble will support an initiative to combine the region’s two bailout funds, the European Financial Stability Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.
Euro zone finance ministers are to meet on Friday to discuss enlarging the region’s financial firewall by combining the EUR440 billion EFSF and the EUR500 billion ESM to give a total fund of EUR700 billion to fight the debt crisis.
Lions Gate Entertainment was one of the top gainers, with shares jumping 4.96% after the movie "The Hunger Games" opened with an impressive USD155 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices, logging Hollywood's third-highest domestic film opening and beating expectations.
Energy stocks also posted strong gains as shares in oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil jumped 1.10%, while Chevron climbed 0.86% and mining company 3M Co advanced 0.69%.
In the internet sector, Yahoo rose 0.62% after the company appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb.
Apple was also on the upside, adding 0.35% after BATS Global Markets CEO Joe Ratterman apologized over the weekend for a system failure that caused the exchange operator to trade erroneously for less than a penny on its market debut Friday and resulted in Apple's shares being temporarily halted.
Elsewhere, financial stocks were broadly higher. Shares in Bank of America jumped 0.81% and JP Morgan rose 0.60%, while Citigroup and Goldman Sachs added 0.60% and 0.44% respectively.
Bank of America also unveiled a pilot program with 1000 customers that will allow them pardon of their outstanding mortgage debt in exchange of transferring their homes’ title to the bank.
Other stocks in focus included property services firm Apollo Group, due to release its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.52%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.40%, Germany's DAX jumped 1.10%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.71%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index eased up 0.1%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales.