NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday, kicking off the week in an upbeat note, as investors remained hopeful for the possible easing of U.S.-China trade dispute and digested mixed data that point to tepid U.S. manufacturing activities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 269.93 points, or 1.05 percent, to 25,898.83. The S&P 500 rose 31.27 points, or 1.10 percent, to 2,878.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 101.97 points, or 1.32 percent, to 7,853.74.
All of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow extended gains around market close, with shares of Apple rallying 1.9 percent, leading the gainers.
Shares of widely-seen trade bellwethers Intel and Cisco Systems rose over 1.33 percent and over 1.05 percent, respectively, among the best performers.
Semiconductor stocks, also sensitive to U.S.-China trade relations, jumped around market close, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 0.86 percent.
Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close, with the communication services up nearly 1.1 percent, leading the advancers.
Shares of Walt Disney rose over 2.23 percent, after the U.S. animation giant announced a plan to open 25 stores inside certain Target locations in the United States in October.
Investors have kept a close eye on the variable development of the U.S.-initiated trade war with China, which weighed on the already-dampened investor sentiment across the globe.
The U.S. academic, business and financial communities have all voiced hopes over the weekend that the two sides could go back to the negotiating table and resume sincere conversations in concerted efforts to ease the long-lasting tensions.
On the economic front, U.S. durable goods orders rose 2.1 percent in July, reaching 250.4 billion U.S. dollars, the Department of Commerce said Monday.
However, shipments of manufactured durable goods in July declined 1.1 percent to reach 254.0 billion dollars, following a 1.0-percent growth in June. Enditem
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