Investing.com -- U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday rallying from their third straight week of declines last Friday, as oil futures hit 6-month highs and billionaire investor Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRKa) provided a boost to the major indices by declaring a major stake in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).
On Monday, both brent and WTI crude futures surged more than 2% to approach $50 barrels, each reaching their highest levels on the calendar year. It came amid major production outages in Nigeria and continuing political instability in Venezuela, helping ease some concerns related to the longstanding global supply glut. In addition, oil prices ticked up following a bullish note from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) to investors, suggesting that oil could remain near $50 during the remainder of the second half.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 175.39 or 1.00% to 17,710.71, while the NASDAQ Composite index added 57.78 or 1.22% to 4,775.46, both paring some losses from last week. With the gains, the NASDAQ closed higher for the first time in four sessions. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, rose by 20.05 or 0.98% to 2,066.66, as all 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Energy, Basic Materials and Technology industries led, each gaining more than 1%. Stocks in the Utilities sector lagged, as interest-rate sensitive stocks fell while yields on the U.S. 10-Year soared by more than five basis points.
Apple finished as the top performer on the Dow, jumping 3.41 or 3.77% to 93.93 in Monday's session to bounce off 2-year lows from late last week. Earlier, Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a position of 9.8 million shares in Apple stock, helping boost declining investor sentiment from reports last month that activist investor Carl Icahn had exited from his position in the tech giant. Investors also kept a close eye on Tim Cook's visit to China, where state media outlets reported that the Apple CEO will meet with high-level government officials and internet companies later this week. On Monday, Cook attended a roundtable even with Chinese app developer alongside executives from Didi Chuxing. Last week, Apple announced that it had invested $1 billion in the Chinese ride-sharing company as part of its continuing efforts to reinvigorate sales in the world's second-largest economy. The worst performer was The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which fell 0.40 or 0.36% to 112.27. In total, only four Dow components closed in the red on Monday.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), which added 22.56 or 6.11% to 392.02. Regeneron shares popped on Monday on the back of a report from Barron's, which called the Tarrytown, New York-based pharmaceutical the "best bet in biotechs." While shares in Regeneron are still down more than 30% over the last six months, they have rallied substantially since the middle of February. The worst performer was Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR), which plummeted 10.68 or 4.98% to 203.89, after the Connecticut-based cable service provider cleared one of the final regulatory hurdles in its $10.4 billion merger with Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC).
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB), which added 1.21 or 6.25% to 20.56 finishing just ahead of Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX). Freeport McMoran, one of the world's top mining companies, finished with a strong session after gold reached a 1-week high in Monday's session, moving percentage points away from fresh 15-month highs near $1,300 an ounce. The worst performer was Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC), which fell 4.34 or 10.33% to 37.67.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,326-727 margin.