WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday despite coming off early highs amid somewhat thin volumes as traders largely stayed on the sidelines due to a lack of major economic data.
Relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in Shanghai, and reports that the Biden administration is looking at the option of lifting some tariffs on China to fight inflation helped underpin sentiment.
With consumer price inflation data due later in the week, traders appeared reluctant to make significant moves. U.S. inflation data, due on Friday, is expected to show an increase of 0.7 percent on a monthly basis in May, up from 0.3 percent in April.
Market participants also await a European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting on Thursday for confirmation whether the central bank will raise rates at the July 21 policy meeting.
The major averages all closed in positive territory despite coming off early highs. The Dow, which dropped to 32,819.50 in the final hour after having climbed to 33,235.37 in early trades, ended the session with a gain of 16.08 points or 0.05 percent at 32,915.78.
The S&P 500 ended with a gain of 12.89 points or 0.31 percent at 4,121.43, well off the session's high of 4,168.78. The Nasdaq, which surged to 12,245.40, settled at 12,061.37, up 48.64 points or 0.4 percent from the previous close.
Alphabet shares gained about 2 percent. Amazon too climbed nearly 2 percent.
Travelers Companies, IBM, United Health, Verizon and Walgreens Boots Alliance posted sharp to moderate gains.
Spirit Airlines shares climbed nearly 7 percent after JetBlue Airways Corp sweetened its takeover offer for the discount airline.
Twitter Inc. shares drifted down by about 1.5%, weighed down by news that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is threatening to walk away from his $44 billion deal to acquire the social media platform if the network fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts.
Amgen, Salesfore.com, Walt Disney, Intel, Nike, JP Morgan and Microsoft closed weak.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.3 percent.
The major European markets ended on firm note. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 1 percent, Germany's DAX surged up 1.34 percent and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.98 percent.
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