SYDNEY, NSW, Australia -- U.S stock markets extended gains on Monday as hopes appeared of a breakthrough in the Russian-Ukrainian war, while oil prices fell.
Over the last two weeks, the S&P has produced one of its sharpest rallies in history, larger than the biggest 10 day rally in seven of the S&P's 11 bear markets since 1927, according to analysts at Bank of America Global Equity Derivatives Research.
It has done so despite weaker fundamentals, higher inflation, and curve inversion, and the Fed leaning against equity market strength to hike faster. The technology sector led the way once again with the Nasdaq Composite surged 264.73 points or 1.84 percent to 14,619. The Dow Jone industrials went up 338.30 points or 0.97 percent to 35,294. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 56.08 points or 1.23 percent to 4,631. The U.S. dollar was sold sharply against the euro and the yen on Monday. The euro jumped to 1.1087 by the New York close, a full one-cent gain. A similar story was made in Japan with the yen rising a cent to 122.88. The Swiss franc was only slightly stronger at 0.9306.
The Australian dollar went up to 0.7508. On the overseas equity markets, prospects for a ceasefire following what the Kremlin described as constructive talks in Turkey on Monday bolstered stocks, particularly in Europe. In Germany, the Dax jumped 2.79 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 climbed by 3.08 percent. The FTSE 100 gained 0.86 percent in London.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.10 percent in Japan. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.12 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries added 0.75 percent. South Korea's Kospi Composite rose by 0.42 percent. The S&P NZ 50 gained 0.52 percent. The Shanghai Composite slid 0.33 percent against the trend, according to Cjina.