Stocks - Dow Makes Upbeat Start to Week as Trade Optimism Triggers Rally

Investing.com - Wall Street closed higher Monday on trade optimism as the U.S. and China resumed talks and a jump in consumer discretionary stocks, led by Amazon, also lifted sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.42%. The S&P 500 added 0.67%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.26%.

Wall Street made an upbeat start to the week as the U.S. and China resumed trade talks, raising investor hopes that both parties could hash out a deal during the 90-day trade-war ceasefire, which ends on March 1.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told CNBC that he believes there's a "very good chance" the U.S. will get "a reasonable settlement" that addresses all of the key issues.

The talks were reportedly held at a vice ministerial level and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, made an unexpected appearance at the meetings on Monday, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the discussions.

The U.S. has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, about half the value of U.S. imports from the country. China has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion worth of American exports.

Beyond trade, consumer discretionary stocks led the market higher, supported by a surge in Amazon.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) closed 3.4% higher as Pivotal Research Group said the e-commerce giant's stock has further room to advance, slapping a $1,920 price target on the company's shares, about 18% above the stock's closing price.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) also supported the consumer discretionary sector as investors welcomed Starboard Value's 1.7% investment in the company, as well as it plans to improve performance.

Energy continued its recovery from a slump last month, propping up the broader market on rising oil prices as the market absorbed OPEC supply cuts, while data pointing to a fall in Cushing stockpiles also supported sentiment.

Tech caught a bid on a surge in Neflix after the streaming giant dominated the Golden Globes, picking up five awards, the most of any network or streaming service, sending its shares soaring 6%.

Among other FANG stocks, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) shrugged off another bearish call from Wall Street.

Facebook pared intraday losses to close flat even as Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser reaffirmed his “sell” rating on the company’s stock and warned Facebook’s problems are "likely to worsen" in 2019.

On the corporate front, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rallied 5.4% as construction of its new manufacturing plant in China got underway.

Initial construction work is expected to be completed this summer and Model 3 production estimated by the end of the year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a series of tweets.

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Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), up 8.3%, Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR), up 7.8%, and Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT), up 7.7%, were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.

Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG), down 22.4%, Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW), down 6.6%, and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), down 6.5%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.