Wall Street ends sharply higher, led by surging Dow

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People are seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Noel Randewich and Devik Jain

(Reuters) - Wall Street rallied on Monday, with the Dow completing its strongest session in over three months as investors piled back in to energy and other sectors expected to outperform as the economy rebounds from the pandemic.

The small-cap Russell 2000 and the Dow Jones Transports Average, considered a barometer of economic health, both jumped about 2%.

The S&P 500 value index, which includes banks, energy and other economically sensitive sectors and has led gains in U.S. equities so far this year, surged 1.9%, outperforming a 0.9% rise in the growth index.

That was a stark reversal from last week, when the Fed's hawkish signals on monetary policy sparked a round of profit taking that wiped out value stocks' lead over growth this month and triggered the worst weekly performance for the Dow and the S&P 500 in months.

"The overall theme here is the market still does not know whether it wants easy money or tight money and it's in a tug of war," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW).

All 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, with energy jumping 4.3% and leading the way, followed by financials, up 2.4%.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 1.2% to close at an all-time high.

The S&P 500 has traded in a tight range this month as investors juggled fears of an overheating economy with optimism about a strong economic rebound.

(Graphic: Value vs Growth stocks, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/ygdpzxxkkpw/Pasted%20image%201624280690315.png)

Focus this week will be on U.S. factory activity surveys and home sales data, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies before Congress on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.76% to end at 33,876.97 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1.40% to 4,224.79. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.79% to 14,141.48.

Cryptocurrency stocks, including miners Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT), Marathon Patent Group and crypto exchange Coinbase Global, tumbled between 1% and 4% on China's expanding crackdown on bitcoin mining.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Inc rallied 4.5% after a report said the drugmaker is adding two new production lines at a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant, in a bid to prepare for making more booster shots.

Market participants are girding for a major trading event on Friday, when the FTSE Russell completes the annual rebalancing of its indexes, potentially affecting trillions of dollars in investments.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.86-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.44-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 55 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.1 billion shares, compared with the 11 billion average over the last 20 trading days.