Investing.com -- U.S. stocks pared sharp gains on Monday as Brexit fears continued to subside, triggering a massive rally in equity markets throughout the euro area that spilled over across the Atlantic, providing significant upside to the major indices.
In Monday's session, both the FTSE 100 index and the broader Euro Stoxx 600 rose considerably, as bookmakers nationwide shifted the odds dramatically favoring the Remain campaign. At one point on Monday, nearly 80% of respondents supported the Stay vote, up from 60% late last week. Simultaneously, top British businessmen, including Virgin Group founder Richard Branson urged voters to avert a Brexit in order to prevent a potential collapse in the Pound.
As a result, stocks on Wall Street enjoyed one of their strongest one-day rebounds in nearly four months, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 129.71 or 0.73% to 17,804.87, while the NASDAQ Composite index gained 36.87 or 0.77% to 4,837.21. At session-highs, the Dow rose as much as 250 points. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, jumped 12.03 or 0.58% to 2,083.25, as nine of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Industrials, Energy and Consumer Goods industries led, while stocks in the Utilities industry lagged. The S&P 500 briefly eclipsed a key psychological barrier of 2,100 on Monday morning.
With the solid gains, the major indices posted only their second winning session over the last eight trading days.
The top performer on the Dow was Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.95 or 2.27% to 32.77. Earlier, Iran reportedly came to terms with Boeing (NYSE:BA) on a deal to purchase 100 planes from the Everett, Washington-based aircraft manufacturer. Boeing has fought assiduously in recent weeks to play catch up against main rival EADSY, which inked a deal with Iran to provide the Gulf state with 118 planes for $27 billion earlier this year. The worst performer was CSCO, which lost 0.15 or 0.52% to 28.80. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) closed just below Verizon (SIX:VZN), which inched down amid reports that Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) for the company's Fios' TV contracts have been halted across the board throughout the U.S. East Coast.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD), which added 1.09 or 5.41% to 21.22. It came after Walmart agreed to sell its Yihaodian unit to the Chinese e-commerce business, while creating a strategic alliance that could bolster the company's sales in the world's second-largest economy. As part of the deal, JD.com will issue roughly 145 million Class A share to Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) or about 5% of the company's total in shares. The worst performer was Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which tumbled 0.32 or 1.82% to 16.14. Over the last year, shares in the specialty drugmaker have plunged nearly 80%.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), which surged 1.30 or 9.88% to 14.46. Energy stocks dominated the S&P, as brent futures closed above $50 a barrel for the first time in five sessions. Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) and Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) also soared by more than 5% on Monday. The worst performer was ADS, which slid 6.40 or 3.09% to 200.82. During the last 12 months, shares in the Plano, Texas-based private label credit card solutions company have fallen by more than 30%.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,358-692 margin.