Nasdaq, S&P 500 Climb as Growth Stocks, Twitter Jump

WALL STREET - NEW YORK. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 gained on Monday, boosted by megacap stocks and a 20% jump in Twitter shares, even as the global mood remained cautious amid talks of more sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Micro-blogging site Twitter Inc surged 24.1% to become the best performing stock on the S&P 500 after Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk reported a 9.2% stake in the company.

Tesla gained 3% after the electric-vehicle maker reported record deliveries for the first quarter.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors declined in early trading, while a jump of more than 1.5% in both technology and communication services stocks helped offset losses.

Global stocks stalled as investors kept an eye on the Ukraine conflict and for signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve on its monetary policy tightening plans.

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A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, the gap between 2- and 10-year bond yields remained inverted, as a strong jobs report last week supported the view that the Fed would aggressively hike rates. An inverted yield curve is widely seen as a signal of incoming economic recession.

"While (the inversion is) bad news in the sense that it's a very accurate indicator of a recession, the good news is historically it's a buy signal versus a sell signal in the short term," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital in New York.

"On average, the market tends to peak about a year to year-and-a-half after the 2/10 spread inverts."

Meanwhile, Germany said the West would agree to impose more sanctions on Russia in the coming days after Ukraine accused Russian forces of war crimes following civilian deaths near Kyiv.

After a rough start to the year, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has nearly halved its year-to-date losses in the last few weeks, helped by gains in growth names and strong economic data. Nasdaq is now down 10.7% from its all-time closing high in November.

At 10:30 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  edged up 2.77 points, or 0.01%, at 34,821.04, held down by shares of McDonald's and UnitedHealth

The S&P 500 gained 17.25 points, or 0.38%, at 4,563.11, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 155.27 points, or 1.09%, at 14,416.77.

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Shares of Bilibili Inc BILI.O and Didi Global Inc DIDI.N jumped 8.5% and 1.2%, respectively, after China proposed revising confidentiality rules involving offshore listings.

Starbucks Corp fell 5.1% after former CEO Howard Schultz announced the suspension of the company's stock repurchasing program, as he returns this week to lead the global coffee chain for the third time.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded nine new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 41 new lows.