Investing.com – With no major economic data stateside on Monday, Wall Street followed the global rally spurred by the fact the risk of U.K. leaving the European Union (EU), known as a Brexit, appeared to be receding.
At 15:42GMT or 11:42AM ET, the Dow 30 jumped 224 points, or 1.27%, the S&P 500 traded up 26 points, or 1.23%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite advanced 79 points, or 1.64%.
Market participants were focused on the upcoming vote on membership in the EU that will take place this Thursday, June 23, with final results released on Friday, June 24.
Two opinion polls published on Saturday showed that support for the 'Remain' campaign had regained its lead over a vote to leave, while a third showed momentum shifting in favor of a vote to stay in the 28-member bloc.
Furthermore, Sayeeda Warsi, a former minister and co-chair of the ruling Conservative Party, announced that she had changed her mind and would back the vote to stay.
The shift in “Remain” support boosted the pound and revived risk sentiment, which had been hard hit by fears that a vote to leave the EU would cause turmoil in global financial markets.
Though volatility was expected in the run-up to the vote, markets showed a “risk-on” attitude on Monday.
Both European and Asian stock markets closed higher, with Germany’s DAX up 3.4% while London’s FTSE100 gained 3%, its best performance since August 2015.
Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, with Brent futures climbing back above the $50-level and U.S. crude moving every closer.
Demand for safe-haven assets decreased with gold futures retreating further from last week’s 22-month high, while the improvement in market sentiment also pushed down the dollar.
10-year bond yields bounced back from record lows hit last week in the case of British, German and Japanese sovereign debt, while the U.S. Treasury yields also pulled back from a four-year low reached last Thursday.
Stateside, investors still looked ahead to a speech from Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari who will give opening remarks at a forum on the financial sector and “to big to fail”, with Fed chair Janet Yellen scheduled to testify before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.