Investing.com – Wall Street moved higher on Monday as the outcome of French elections convinced investors to move money from safe havens to global stocks while M&A activity buoyed sentiment and market players continued to watch earnings.
At 11:30AM ET (15:30GMT), the Dow Jones rose 195 points, or 0.95%, the S&P 500 gained 21 points, or 0.90%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 61 points, or 1.04%.
Capturing all the market headlines on Monday, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election with 23.75% of the vote, advancing to the second and final vote with far-right Marine Le Pen who took 21.53% which will take place on May 7.
Euro-friendly Macron is widely tipped to win the final vote, with opinion polls showing him comfortably beating Le Pen by around 20 percentage points, reducing the risk of an anti-establishment shock that would kick off the far-right candidate’s agenda to leave the euro and sparking a relief rally that saw German stocks hit a new record high.
The Nasdaq too reached all-time highs on Monday as U.S. stocks were also affected by the bullish sentiment, even as the VIX, the so-called fear gauge, plummeted 22% by 11:31AM ET (15:31GMT).
In a session with no major economic reports, investors kept watch on earnings in what will be one of the busiest weeks in decades, with no less than 190 S&P firms reporting.
Out of the 99 that have released numbers so far for the first quarter period, 78% have beat on profit and 68% have topped sales estimates, according to The Earning Scout.
Shares of Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) shot up more than 5% Monday as the toymaker passed up rival Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) in sales and beat on both the top and bottom line.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) also managed to gain around 1% as the oilfield services provider also produced better-than-expected earnings.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) or Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) will release their numbers after the close.
M&A activity also buoyed investor sentiment, as Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) announced it will acquire CR Bard (NYSE:BCR) in a $24 billion cash-and-stock deal.
U.S. paint maker PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) made a third improved offer to buy Dutch rival Akzo Nobel (AS:AKZO) for €26.9 billion ($28.8 billion).
Oil prices were lower in New York morning trade on Monday, reversing overnight gains as investors turned their attention back to rising production in the U.S.
U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 14th week in a row, data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed late Friday, extending a 10-month drilling recovery.
That brought the total count to 688, the most since September 2015, underlining concern that an ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.85% to $49.20 by 11:32AM ET (15:32GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.72% to $52.06.