Stocks rebounded from Friday's rout by the end of Monday's session after President Joe Biden said the United States does not plan to impose lockdowns or travel restrictions in response to the new Omicron COVID variant. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 200 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq added more than 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled on Monday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.32% or +60.65 points to 4,655.27

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.68% or +236.60 points to 35,135.94

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.88% or +291.18 points to 15,782.83

Biden addresses COVID variant Omicron:

President Biden on Monday held a press conference to address the threat the new Omicron COVID variant poses to the United States.

"This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic," Biden told reporters on Monday. "We have the best vaccines in the world, the best medicine, the best scientists, and we're learning more every single day. We have more tools today to fight the variant than we ever have before."

Biden said that the current best protection against Omicron, and every other COVID variants, is getting fully vaccinated and then receiving a booster dose at least six months after an individual's second dose.

"We do not yet believe that any additional measures will be needed," Biden added.

Biden said that the White House is working with Pfizer (PFE  ) and Moderna (MRNA  ) to work on vaccine response plan, including possibly updating vaccines or booster shots. He added that the White House will release a new strategy on how it will address COVID this winter on Thursday.

Twitter CEO to step down, CTO to take command:

Twitter (TWTR  ) founder Jack Dorsey announced Monday that he will step down as Chief Executive of the social media platform and be replace by the company's Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal, effective immediately.

"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It's his time to lead," Dorsey said in a press statement.

Dorsey will remain a member of Twitter's Board of Directors until his term ends next year. He also remains CEO of the fintech Square (SQ  ).

Pending home sales jump higher in October:

Contract signings of U.S. homes rose in October, recovering from September's decline, as rising rent prices and low mortgages rates attracted buyers out of season.

Pending home sales surged by 7.5% in October, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) monthly report published Monday. In September, pending home sales were downwardly revised to a drop of 2.4%.

"Motivated by fast-rising rents and the anticipated increase in mortgage rate, consumers that are on strong financial footing are signing contracts to purchase a home sooner rather than later," Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said in a statement. "This solid buying is a testament to demand still being relatively higher, as it is occurring during a time when inventory is still markedly low."

Here's how market benchmarks started trading to start the week:

S&P 500 Index: +1.23% or +56.62 points to 4,651.24

Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.01% or +352.24 points to 35,251.58

Nasdaq Composite Index: +1.49% or +231.13 points to 15,721.53