The Dow Jones finished at a record high late Monday, joining two other major stocks soaring as traders felt upbeat by revived hopes about a trade deal between the US and China.
Recent optimism about a trade agreement between the two largest economies in the world, together with better-than-expected corporate earnings and a strong labor market, has eased fears of a slowdown in domestic growth.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross expressed optimism over the weekend that a "Phase One" agreement would be attained between Washington and Beijing, stressing that licenses will be given for American companies to sell products to the Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies if things go according to plan.
The blue-chip index was up 114.70 points on Monday, or 0.41 percent, to finish at 27,462.09, it is first-ever high since June. The wider Standard & Poor's 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, again notched new closing highs, with the S&P settling 11.37 or 0.5 percentage points, at 3078.29 and the Nasdaq closing the session with 46.81 or 0.7 percentage points, putting it at 8433.22.
The march to new highs also arrives as the Federal Reserve has been lowering interest rates three times since July to offset a downturn in the economy. The central bank announced last week that, unless the economy weakened more, it would not lower rates again.
Energy shares led Monday's charge, assisted by an increase in oil prices. Chevron and Exxon Dow parts soared 4.5 percent and 4 percent respectively. Also, Walgreens Stores has climbed 5 percent.
U.S. oil prices have risen by 34 cents to $56.54 a barrel on positive trade output as the dollar grew, gold, considered a haven currency, was little altered.
Banks also increased significantly, with Bank of America and Citigroup both rising by nearly 2 percent. Bond prices fell as the yield rose from 1.72 percent Friday to 1.78 percent on the 10-year Treasury Note.
Yields moved in the price direction while higher yields allowed banks to charge interest rates on loans that are more lucrative.
McDonald's was one of the Dow's largest decliners, shedding 2.8 percent after its chief executive officer Steve Easterbrook was terminated following a "consensual" relationship scandal with an unnamed employee.
On Monday, Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight on fears that the departure of Easterbrook might put more burden on shares.
Elsewhere, Under Armour slowed down almost 19 percent after Sunday's sportswear company said its accounting practices had been under federal investigation for two years.
