Dow soars 603 points amid risk-on rally as reopening stocks surge

• The Dow soared 603 points on Monday as a risk-on rally was fueled by a surge in reopening stocks.
• Johnson and Johnson began the distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, which received emergency use authorization from the FDA over the weekend.
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Stocks edged higher on Monday as the full reopening of the US economy seemed within reach after Johnson and Johnson began distributing its one-dose vaccine. The company received emergency use authorization from the FDA last week.

The Dow soared more than 600 points, while the S&P 500 posted its strongest daily gain since June 2020.

Also helping Monday's move higher was a decline in the 10-year US Treasury yield, which hit a cycle high of more than 1.60% last week. The 10-year Treasury note yielded 1.45% Monday afternoon.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Monday:

• S&P 500: 3,901.75, up 2.38%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 31,535.58, up 1.95% (603.21 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 13,588.83, up 3.01%

Biden's $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus plan is likely to dominate headlines over the next two weeks ahead of its expected passage in the Senate, after the house passed the bill on Friday.

The SPAC boom continued on Monday after Rocket Lab agreed to merge with Vector Acquisition, valuing the space-transport startup as more than $4 billion.

Investor focus turned to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett over the weekend, after the firm released its 2020 annual shareholder letter. In the letter, Buffett highlighted a big mistake Berkshire made regarding its purchase of Precision Castparts, and reiterated his view that investors should never bet against America.

Boeing surged as much as 7% after United Airlines placed a 25-unit order for its 737-MAX jet, which was recently ungrounded by the FAA late last year.

Reddit investors sought to reignite momentum in 'meme stocks' like GameStop and AMC Entertainment, with both surging in early Monday trades.

Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.1%, to $60.21 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, declined by 1.83%, to $63.24 per barrel.

Gold fell around 0.5%, to $1,720.20 per ounce.