Stock market news live updates: Stocks rally as tech shares rebound, S&P 500 jumps 2.4% in best session since June 2020

U.S. stocks staged a rebound rally on Monday, with each of the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq jumping as retreating Treasury yields and vaccine optimism boosted risk assets.

[Click here to read what's moving markets heading into Tuesday, March 2]

The S&P 500 surged by more than 2% in its best session since June 2020, and the Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed with gains of more than 3% each. The financials, information technology and industrial sectors led the S&P 500's comeback after a bout of volatility last week. A sell-off in tech shares sent the Nasdaq down 4.9% last week for its worst weekly performance since October.

But the move higher in risk assets on Monday coincided with steadying across the Treasury yield curve, after central bank officials from the Bank of England to the Reserve Bank of Australia echoed sentiments from the U.S. Federal Reserve and doubled down on commitments to maintain an accommodative policy posturing throughout the global economic recovery.

The yield on the 10-year note retreated to hover below 1.45% after spiking to a one-year high of 1.61% last week. The excessively swift rise in interest rates spooked equity investors last week, with rates impacting a range of both corporate and consumer borrowing costs.

"One key reason for the importance that investor ascribed to expected future growth was the extremely low level of interest rates. As rates have risen, the contribution of equity duration to stock valuations has declined while near-term growth profiles have become more important," Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin wrote in a note. "Practically, this means that both the improving growth outlook and rising rates have supported the outperformance of cyclicals and value stocks relative to stocks with the highest long-term growth."

Meanwhile, vaccine optimism also helped boost the major stock indexes. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) single-dose coronavirus vaccine with unanimous backing, making it the third shot approved for use in the U.S. The company has already begun shipping its COVID-19 vaccine and expects to deliver more than 100 million doses of the single-shot vaccines during the first half of 2021, including more than 20 million by the end of March. Shares of Johnson & Johnson, a Dow component, jumped more than 2% in early trading.

On the stimulus front, the House of Representatives over the weekend advanced a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, which included $1,400 direct checks to most Americans, $400 per week in augmented federal unemployment insurance and $350 billion in state, local and tribal government relief, among other measures. The bill heads to the U.S. Senate, with many lawmakers aiming to pass the bill within the next two weeks, before a mid-March cliff when current pandemic-era federal unemployment benefits are set to expire.

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4:04 p.m. ET: Stocks end sharply higher, S&P 500 posts best day since June 2020 while Nasdaq jumps 3%

Here's where markets were trading shortly after noon in New York:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,901.82, +90.67 points (+2.38%)

• Dow (^DJI): 31,535.58, +603.21 points (+1.95%)

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): 13,588.83, +396.48 points (+3.01%)

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12:04 p.m. ET: Stocks surge, Nasdaq gains 2.5%

Here's where markets were trading shortly after noon in New York:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,899.88, +88.73 points (+2.33%)

• Dow (^DJI): 31,605.99, +673.62 points (+2.18%)

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): 13,525.51, +333.43 points (+2.53%)

• Crude (CL=F): $61.44 per barrel, -$0.06 (-0.1%)

• Gold (GC=F): $1,733.30 per ounce, +$4.50 (+0.26%)

• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.8 bps to yield 1.438%

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10:38 a.m. ET: Manufacturing sector activity surged in February by the most in three years: ISM

Activity in the domestic manufacturing sector jumped by the most in three years, boosted by a rise in prices paid for raw materials.

The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index jumped to a reading of 60.8 in February from 58.7 in January. Consensus economists were looking for a tick higher to just 58.9, according to Bloomberg consensus data. Readings above the neutral level of 50 indicate expansion in a sector.

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