LONDON (ShareCast) - US stocks rallied on Monday notching their best one-day gain in three weeks, with investors buoyed by new monetary easing measures from China's central bank and upbeat earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 209 points to 18,034.93, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 19 and 65 points respectively.

The People's Bank of China, under pressure to boost growth following a recent batch of weak economic data, this weekend lowered its reserve requirement ratio by one percentage point, the most aggressive cut since 2008.

However, the bigger-than-expected move, intended to boost bank lending, failed to spark a rally on Asian indices with stocks across the continent firmly in the red on Monday.

"This is only likely to provide temporary relief for US stocks which are facing a tough few weeks," said Oanda's senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

"Earnings season may have got off to a good start but it has included a lot of financial institutions which were expected to announce decent results."

Over 32% of the S&P 500 companies will publish results during the week, with Microsoft, Apple and Google all set to report.

"Despite being the single biggest drag on US corporate earnings growth, the energy sector was the best performing last week, as crude oil broke above its 2015 trading range," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.

"Energy sector earnings expectations are now very low, so stocks in the sector could benefit by beating those lowered expectations."

In company news, Morgan Stanley climbed 0.57% after its first quarter results beat analysts' estimates, while toy-maker Hasbro jumped 12.55% after profit and sales beat expectations.

Computer giant IBM rose just over 2% in after-hour trading after reporting first quarter adjusted earnings of $2.91 per share compared with forecast of $2.81 per share, while revenue for the period amounted to $19.6bn against forecast of $19.67bn.

Discount voucher company Groupon advanced 0.69% after revealing it had agreed to sell a controlling 46% stake in South Korean e-commerce site Ticket Monster to KKR & Co. and Anchor Equity Partners for $360m.

Oilfield services giant Halliburton gained 2.05% after reporting better-than-expected earnings per share, even though it posted a first-quarter net loss of $643m, or 76 cents a share, as volatility in oil prices continued.

Industrial real estate developer Prologis rose 0.4% after securing a deal to buy industrial-property owner KTR Capital Partners for $5.9bn, in one of the biggest real estate deals this year.

Going the other way, Royal Caribbean Cruises slumped 8.01% after the cruise operator lowered the outlook for 2015 citing a strong dollar and rising fuel costs.

Defence technology group Raytheon Company fell 0.22% after announcing it plans to invest $1.7bn in a cyber unit, while The Wall Street Journal reported the group has completed the acquisition of Websense Inc. from private-equity firm Vista Partners.

Meanwhile, William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, said that economic performance will determine the timing of the first interest rates hike.

The data will "hopefully" support a rate hike later this year, Dudley said at the Bloomberg Americas Monetary Summit, adding that "the timing is data dependent and we will have to see what unfolds."

The dollar began the week in strong fashion, rising 0.66% against the euro and gaining 0.40% and 0.33% against the pound and the yen respectively, while gold futures slid 0.71% to $1,194.50.

Oil prices were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 1.1% to $56.37 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.1% to $63.38 a barrel.

S&P 500 - Risers
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $74.16 +12.55%
Windstream Holdings Inc (WIN) $8.19 +6.50%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $34.89 +4.77%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $25.91 +3.81%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $389.80 +3.79%
Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) $142.00 +3.63%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $33.96 +3.54%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $166.16 +3.42%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $42.90 +3.09%
Under Armour Inc. Class A (UA) $87.76 +3.08%

S&P 500 - Fallers
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $30.04 -3.53%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $7.77 -3.12%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $68.04 -2.54%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $5.07 -2.22%
Hershey Foods Corp. (HSY) $98.21 -2.05%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $43.16 -1.95%
Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (HCBK) $9.33 -1.79%
Rowan Companies plc (RDC) $20.02 -1.48%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $38.49 -1.38%
Tesoro Corp. (TSO) $83.62 -1.38%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $166.16 +3.42%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $42.90 +3.09%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $127.60 +2.28%
Boeing Co. (BA) $152.66 +2.05%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $28.48 +2.02%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $72.81 +1.76%
3M Co. (MMM) $164.51 +1.73%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $84.60 +1.58%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $99.98 +1.45%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $108.22 +1.43%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $27.02 -0.84%
American Express Co. (AXP) $77.21 -0.14%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $35.00 -0.11%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $118.58 -0.11%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $85.88 +5.05%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $389.80 +3.79%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $33.96 +3.54%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $42.90 +3.09%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $59.13 +2.97%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $83.09 +2.87%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $128.95 +2.75%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $185.71 +2.41%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $127.60 +2.28%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $68.64 +2.27%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $68.04 -2.54%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $43.16 -1.95%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $183.87 -1.54%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $48.37 -0.90%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $205.27 -0.74%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $567.38 -0.73%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $100.65 -0.72%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $22.09 -0.50%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $5.65 -0.35%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $50.42 -0.29%

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