(Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday as increases in large tech and internet companies and oil price gains outweighed concerns about the latest U.S.-China tensions and downbeat sentiment from the annual meeting of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Major U.S. indexes opened lower but moved higher throughout the afternoon to snap two-day losing streaks.
Stocks have rebounded sharply since late March from the coronavirus-fueled sell-off, helped by massive monetary and fiscal stimulus. Investors are now watching efforts by a number of states trying to spark their economies by easing restrictions put in place to fight the outbreak.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo outlined a phased reopening of business in the state hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. California Governor Gavin Newsom said that retail businesses in the state may begin reopening as early as this week.
“Can you lift restrictions and begin to phase in economic activity and yet keep the number of cases at bay? That is what the market is focused on right now,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 26.07 points, or 0.11%, to 23,749.76, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 12.03 points, or 0.42%, to 2,842.74 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 105.77 points, or 1.23%, to 8,710.72.
Gains in Microsoft (MSFT.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O) were the biggest lifts for the S&P 500, following mixed reaction last week to reports from big tech names.
