Banks And Big Oil Boost Wall Street

Wall Street stocks finished higher on Monday, with gains from petroleum companies and banks more than offsetting another drop in Boeing shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 percent to close the session at 25,914.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to end at 2,833, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 7,714.

After a bruising conclusion to 2018, US stocks have spent much of the first quarter pushing higher amid expectations for a US-China trade deal and dovish commentary from the Fed.

The Fed will have another opportunity to weigh in on Wednesday following a meeting that is expected to keep interest rates unchanged and could signal fewer rate increases in 2019.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended last week at five-month highs and added further to gains on Monday.

Oil-linked shares prospered with higher crude prices. Halliburton jumped 3.2 percent, Exxon Mobil 1.2 percent and Apache 1.6 percent.

Large banks were also strong, with Goldman Sachs and Bank of America each winning around two percent.

But Boeing dropped another 1.8 percent as scrutiny builds over its 737 MAX aircraft that was grounded globally last week following a second deadly crash in less than five months.

Facebook also was under pressure, losing 3.3 percent following a downgrade by Needham. (AFP)