(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished higher on Monday after investors cheered a rally in energy stocks..
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 90.99 points or 1.08% to finish at 8,529.38. The S&P 500 rose 8.33 points or 0.91% to end at 927.23. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.34 points or 0.02% to 1,807.72.
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) jumped 44 cents or 3.45% to $13.19. American Express (NYSE:
AXP) rose 24 cents or 1.01% to $24.
Energy stocks finished with significant gains. Shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:
XOM) rallied $1.53 or 2.22% to $70.58.Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) advanced 93 cents or 1.41% to $66.88.
Shares of pc maker Hewlett Packard (NYSE:
HPQ) surged $1.37 or 3.64% to $38.98.
Drugmaker Merck & Co. (NYSE:
MRK) added 85 cents or 3.15% to close at $27.85.
On the downside, shares of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:
AA), the largest aluminum maker, lost 32 cents or 2.97% to $10.44.
Fraudster Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday running a $US65 billion ($81 billion) Ponzi scheme for the past three decades.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, State Street Corp. (NYSE:
STT) said that its principal subsidiary, State Street Bank and Trust Co., has received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission informing the company it may face civil charges for possible violations of securities laws. Shares of the company finished at $48.50, up 18 cents or 0.37%.
Life insurer Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:
HIG) received $3.4 billion in funds from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Shares of the company rose 23 cents or 1.94% to $12.10
According to the Financial Times, software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:
MSFT) intends to sell its digital advertising agency Razorfish and has appointed Morgan Stanley to find a buyer. Microsoft climbed 51 cents or 2.18% to $23.86.
Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL) on Monday announced that its CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs is back on the job after a nearly 6-month medical leave
Management consulting firms Watson Wyatt (NYSE:
WW) and Towers Perrin agreed Sunday to merge. The deal is valued at $3.5 billion. The new firm will be publicly listed create a consultancy with 14,000 employees across more than two dozen countries. Shares of Watson Wyatt plunged $3.18 or 7.72% to $38.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency forecast Monday that world oil demand is likely to grow by an average of 0.6 percent annually over the 2008-2014.
Elsewhere, the governor of the People's Bank of China said Monday that the country's economy is stabilizing and is actually taking a turn for the better.
European stocks settled higher. The UK FTSE rose 53.02 points or 1.25% to 4,294.03. The German DAX and French CAC increased 2.27% and 2.04% respectively.
Asian stocks finished down. The Nikkei 225 fell 93.92 points or 0.95% to end at 9,783.47. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong dropped 71.75 points or 0.39% to 18,528.51.
NYMEX crude oil for July delivery climbed $2.33 or 3.4% to settle at $71.49 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
