Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed higher Monday as gains in energy and consumer discretionary stocks helped offset falls in shares of Boeing and Facebook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25%, the S&P 500 gained 0.38%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.34%.
Wall Street got the week off to a modestly winning start powered by rising energy stocks as oil prices settled 1% higher after Saudi Arabia said it may need to extend oil supply cuts beyond June into the second half of 2019.
Rising consumer discretionary stocks added to gains in the broader market, led by Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), as the e-commerce giant's planned second headquarters in northern Virginia won approval from local officials. A surge in shares of Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) also firmed up consumer discretionaries amid reports the casino operator was in the early stages of exploring a merger with Eldorado Resorts (NASDAQ:ERI).
The communications services sector was an exception to the generally buoyant mood as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 3.3% after a downgrade from Needham.
Needham cut its rating on the social media giant from buy to hold amid worries about the financial impact of the company's pivot towards privacy and encrypted messages. Concerns about growing regulation risks weighed on the shares. The concern: More regulation could hamper the company's ability to monetize its data.
The social media giant has seen its stock rebound 22% so far this year from the hammering it took in 2018, but remains some 27% below its 52-week high.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) cut some of its early losses, easing downside pressure on industrials, but the aerospace giant still ended the day 1.8% lower as French accident investigator BEA said the flight data recorder from the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max's black box showed "clear similarities" between the deadly crash on March 10 and a previous Boeing 737 Max crash in October.
The report from the French accident investigator arrived a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors and the Department of Transportation are looking into the approval process for Boeing's 737 Max aircraft.
Tech, meanwhile, was driven by higher by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) after the company launched a new 10.5-inch iPad Air and an iPad mini with Pencil support. Both iPads are expected to hit stores next week.
In other company news, U.S. fintech group Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS) agreed to buy payment processor Worldpay (NYSE:WP) for about $35 billion. Worldpay surged 10%, while Fidelity National Information Services fell 0.70%.
On the geopolitical front, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's hopes of having a third vote on her Brexit withdrawal deal were dealt a blow after House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said he was unlikely to allow a third "meaningful vote" in the coming days unless the EU agrees further changes.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), National Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) and Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.