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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are off to a higher start on Wall Street Monday led by more gains in big tech companies.
The S&P 500 was up 0.8%. The benchmark index is coming off its eighth losing week in the last nine. The Nasdaq rose 1.2% and the Dow rose 0.5%.
Twitter fell 4% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk threatened to call of his deal to buy the company, saying Twitter was refusing to hand over data. Spirit Airlines rose 2% after JetBlue raised its offer to buy the rival carrier, and Amazon rose 3% after executing a 20-for-1 stock split.
“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” an attorney for Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter, per the Wall Street Journal.
Oil prices are hovering close to $120 per barrel.
A survey showed activity in Chinese retailing and other service industries shrank in May but at a slower rate than the previous month. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported Washington plans to lift tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said President Joe Biden was “looking at” ending other duties.
Shares of Canadian Solar, Sunrun and SunPower rose between 8% and 13%. First Solar rose about 3%.
Wall Street traders have been uneasy about the possibility Federal Reserve interest rates aimed at cooling inflation that is running at a four-decade high might tip the U.S. economy into a recession.
On Friday, the S&P 500 lost 1.6% for its eighth weekly decline in the past nine weeks. The Dow fell 1% and the Nasdaq fell 2.5%.
In midday trading Monday, the FTSE 100 in London rose 1.2%, the DAX in Frankfurt gained 1% and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 1.1%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3% to 3,236.37 after the business news magazine Caixin said its monthly purchasing managers' index for services rose to 41.4 from April's 36.2 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show activity contracting.
“Some pockets of optimism may come from further easing of virus restrictions in Beijing,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.8% to 21,470.94 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.6% to 27,915.89. Korean markets were closed for a holiday.
Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 7,206.30. New Zealand markets were closed for a holiday.
India's Sensex lost less than 0.1% to 55,716.30. Southeast Asian markets declined.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 47 cents to $119.34 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2 on Friday to $118.87. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 53 cents to $120.25 per barrel in London.
The dollar declined to 130.63 yen from Friday's 130.85 yen. The euro rose to $1.0728 from $1.0720.