Stocks rose Monday as investors traded ahead of a busy week for corporate earnings and weighed the Federal Reserve's next rate decision later this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 250 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2% and 2%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.19% or +47.20 points to 4,019.81
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.76% or +254.07 points to 33,629.56
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +2.01% or +223.98 points to 11,364.41
In the spotlight on Monday, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) shares rose 3% on news that hedge fund Elliott Investment Management had taken a multi-billion dollar investment in the software company.
"Salesforce is one of the preeminent software companies in the world, and having followed the company for nearly two decades, we have developed a deep respect for Marc Benioff and what he has built," Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn said in a statement. "We look forward to working constructively with Salesforce to realize the value of befitting a company of its stature."
Spotify Technologies (NYSE: SPOT) rose 2% after the music streaming platform confirmed it will cut 6% of its workforce, adding to a growing list of technology companies reducing their workforce as part of cost-cutting measures.
"Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us," said CEO Daniel Ek in a note to employees posted publicly on the company's website.
Elsewhere, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) shares were under pressure on Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and other major banks plan to launch a digital wallet to compete with PayPal and Apple Pay (NASDAQ: AAPL). The report stated Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) are also on board.
Monday's rally follows a winning week for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The Dow is also bouncing off of its losing week, with the major average falling just under 2%.
Looking ahead, investors are preparing for earnings reports from technology giants like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), as well as more economic data, including a reading on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) later this week.