Investing.com -- U.S. stocks moved broadly higher on Monday amid a surge in the health care sector and a mixed bag of global manufacturing data, as the major indices extended gains from their strongest monthly rally in four years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite index rose steadily in Monday's session, while the S&P 500 Composite index also closed higher on a bullish day for stocks. The Dow added 165.22 or 0.94% to 17,828.76, while the NASDAQ jumped 73.40 or 1.45% to close Monday's session at 5,127.15. At one point in afternoon trading, the NASDAQ soared to an all-time intraday high of 5,130.51.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, gained 24.69 or 1.19% to 2,104.05, as all 10 of its sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Health Care and Energy sectors led, each gaining more than 2% on the session. Stocks in the Industrials, Technology and Financials industries also jumped by more than 1% on Monday. With the gains, the S&P 500 surged past the 2,100 level for the first time since August.
The top performer on the Dow was Chevron Corporation (N:CVX), which surged 4.21 or 4.63% to 95.09 in spite of mild losses in crude futures in Monday's session. Shares in Chevron (N:CVX) are still down more than 20% over the last year. The worst performer was Visa Inc (N:V), which fell 2.43 or 3.13% to 75.15, after it reacquired its Visa Europe subsidiary for a reported EUR 21.2 billion or $23.4 billion. The move is aimed at helping Visa become more competitive with rivals Mastercard and Chase outside of the U.S.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Biogen Inc (O:BIIB), which soared 11.89 or 4.09% to 302.40. Stocks in other prominent pharmaceutical stocks such as: Mylan (O:MYL), Celgene Corporation (O:CELG) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (O:REGN) also finished among the top performers on the NASDAQ after gaining more than 3% on the day. The worst performer was VIP, which fell 0.10 or 2.65% to close at 3.68.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was CONSOL Energy Inc (N:CNX), which soared 1.15 or 17.27% to 7.81. Shares in Consol Energy have still slumped by more than 80% over the last 52 weeks. Visa was also the worst performer on the S&P 500, just below Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (N:CMG) which fell 16.19 or 2.53% to 624.04. Shares in Chipotle fell on Monday amid reports that the Mexican chain restaurant has closed more than 40 restaurants due to an E-coli outbreak throughout the West Coast.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,532 to 592 margin.