Wall Street stocks surged Monday on a string of pharmaceutical deals and speculation of more monetary stimulus in China.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,973.78, up 261.12 points (1.47 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 25.16 (1.22 percent) to 2,086.18, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 55.54 (1.14 percent) to 4,946.76
US stocks were in the green all day after the S&P 500 shed 2.2 percent last week, falling four out of five days.
In the day`s biggest pharma deal, Catamaran jumped 23.9 percent to $59.87 after UnitedHealth announced it would buy the company for $61.50 a share in cash.
The deal will create the third-ranked pharmacy benefit manager -- the firms that manage prescription drug services between health insurers and insured patients. United Health gained 2.5 percent.
Equity markets were also cheered by comments from People`s Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan that warned of disinflation and hinted at further monetary easing measures.
