June 29 (UPI) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 580 points on Monday as stocks were propelled forward by strong performances by Boeing and tech stocks, despite rising COVID-19 cases.
Stocks climbed sharply to start the week as the Dow rose 2.32 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.47 percent and the Nasdaq Composite increased 1.20 percent in part fueled by news that the Federal Aviation Administration began test flights for the Boeing 737 Max on Monday morning.
Boeing stock surged 14.4 percent following the news that the company and the FAA are taking steps toward demonstrating software problems blamed for deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia have been resolved.
Tech stocks also helped to push the markets higher as Apple stock gained 2.30 percent and Facebook grew 2.11 percent.
Stocks of some companies that would benefit from the reopening of businesses following the lifting of restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus saw gains on Monday despite the United States surpassing 2.5 million positive cases over the weekend, according to figures by John’s Hopkins University.
Southwest Airlines stock increased 9.46 percent while retail stocks also shot up, with Kohls rising 10.07 percent and Gap gained 3.65 percent.
Monday’s gains come after the Dow dropped 731 points on Friday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each dropped more than 2 percent amid fears of the economy taking a further hit from spiking coronavirus cases.
