LONDON (ShareCast) - US markets showed strong character on Monday, recovering the previous session's losses thanks to deal activity in the materials and real estate sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 17,967 while the S&500 added around 0.3% to 2,076. The tech-rich Nasdaq index was flat at 4,400 with Apple leading the gains ahead of the unveiling of a product later on Monday.

Press speculation suggests Apple is launching its smart watch. The company is expected to outline details such as price and launch date of the gadget at the highly anticipated event. Apple shares rose as much as 1% ahead of the event.

Deal news lifted the market's confidence. Alcoa, the world's largest aluminium producer, said it would buy RTI International Metals for $1.5bn. Alcoa shares lost 5% to $13.77 but RTI shares rallied as much as 41% to $38.33.

Elsewhere, Simon Property Group offered to buy Macerich Co for $22.4bn. Macerich rose 6% to 91.86 while Simon Property was up 1% to $181.51.

Wall Street on Monday officially marked the sixth year of its bull market as it recovered from Friday's losses which followed a strong US monthly jobs report in which the country added 295,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.5% from 5.7%.

Friday's declines came as investors took profits on concerns that a strong US jobs report could mean the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates much earlier than expected. However by Monday, traders took the opportunity to snap up some bargains following previous session losses.

"With the equity market still very much reliant on central bank liquidity, the hawkish interpretation of the data cheapened stocks by some 1% on average by the close in the States," said David White, analyst at Spreadex.

With a lack of economic data on the menu, markets were left digesting the day's corporate news. McDonald's shares rose 0.9% despite the company reporting same-store sales fell more than expected in February. The company said the drop in US sales was due to "ongoing aggressive" activity in the fast food sector.

General Motors shares rose 3.3% to $37.70 after it said it plans a new, $5bn share buyback in an agreement with dissident investors, and put forward more details on capital allocation that promises investors the potential for further cash returns.

Elsewhere in the autos market, Tesla shares were down 2% after The Wall Street Journal reported planned job cuts in China as the automaker feels the pressure of reduced demand from the world's second-largest economy.

In other assets, Nymex crude prices rose 2.2% to $50.44 a barrel after OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri over the weekend said he expects the global oil market to rebalance by the second half of the year as demand grows and producers slash output.

In FX markets, the US dollar extended Friday's gains thanks to the strong US jobs report. Against the Japanese yen, the greenback was changing hands at 121.03 while against the euro, it was little changed at 1.084 and against the pound, it was trading at 1.51.

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