Wall Street bounces back as holiday shoppers log on

Wall Street rebounded on Monday as buyers returned in force after last week’s sell-off and expectations of a flurry of holiday cyber-spending drove up shares of online retailers.

The three major US indexes each rose more than 1%, and the S&P 500 was setting a course for its biggest percentage gain in nearly three weeks. The index on Friday closed 10.2% below its record high, confirming a correction for the second time this year.

The expected frenzy of Cyber Monday kicked off as online retailers enticed customers with a blizzard of discounts and free shipping. Cyber Monday spending is seen reaching a record $7.8 billion, according to Adobe analytics.

“We got a bounce after the oversold market coming out of Friday and also due to seasonal factors,” said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. “It looks like so far retail sales have been strong, both with brick-and-mortar and online, which is always a positive.”

E-commerce bellwether Amazon was up 4.1%, providing the biggest boost to both the Nasdaq and the S&P Retail index, which was up 2.3%.

Crude oil prices were on track to post their biggest percentage jump in more than a year due to plunging US stockpiles and increasing supply worries, driving energy shares up 1.6%.

General Motors announced it would cut production, ax low-selling models and slash its North American headcount in the automaker’s biggest restructuring since emerging from bankruptcy a decade ago. The stock was last up 5.7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 279.52 points, or 1.15%, to 24 565.47, the S&P 500 gained 32.68 points, or 1.24%, to 2 665.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 108.83 points, or 1.57%, to 7 047.81.

All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 were trading in positive territory.

The technology sector rose 1.7%, following a more than 6% slide last week, its worst drop in eight months.

Nvidia gained 3.3% after Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the chipmaker with a bullish outlook.

Zafgen shares plummeted 43.0% after the US Food and Drug Administration put a hold on US trials of the company’s experimental diabetes drug, citing safety concerns.

The third-quarter reporting season is largely in the rear-view mirror with nearly 97% of companies in the S&P 500 having reported, 77.9% of which beat analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

Investors were looking ahead to the G20 Summit convening in Buenos Aires on Friday and Saturday, with US President Donald Trump and China Xi Jinping expected to meet regarding their two countries’ escalating tariff spat.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.63-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.43-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 14 new highs and 80 new lows.