Dow climbs over 200 points as fears over Fed hawkishness subside

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Dow climbs over 200 points as fears over Fed hawkishness subside
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
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US stocks gained on Monday, with the Dow Jones jumping more than 200 points as investor fear over the Fed's surprise hawkishness last week began to subside.

The Fed's interest rate dot plot and comments about rising inflation helped spur a three-day sell-off last week, with the reflation trade quickly unraveling as stocks in the energy, financials, and industrial sectors sold off sharply.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is set to testify to Congress beginning on Tuesday, and more color on the Fed's interest rate and inflation outlook is likely to be discussed.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Monday:

While stocks moved higher on Monday, cryptocurrencies experienced a sharp decline. Bitcoin fell more than 14% over the weekend as China continued to crackdown on mining operations in the country.

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But the decline in bitcoin didn't stop MicroStrategy from buying more of the cryptocurrency. The company announced it purchased an additional $489 million worth of bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to more than 105,000 bitcoin.

Bitcoin's price weakness spurred a bearish technical signal over the weekend, known by many as a "death cross," as the 50-day moving average has crossed below its longer-term 200-day moving average. The death cross signals that there could be more downside ahead for bitcoin.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's mega-SPAC $4 billion deal to buy 10% of Universal Music was accepted over the weekend, and Ackman indicated that he is now on the hunt for two more multi-billion dollar deals.

Oil prices were mixed. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.3%, to $71.83 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, fell 0.07%, to $73.46 per barrel.

Gold rose 0.5%, to $1,779.20 per ounce.

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