S&P 500 closes above 3,400 for first time

Stocks plowed higher on Wall Street Monday, as hopes for a coronavirus  treatment and vaccine had investors looking ahead to the possibility of a healthier economy that has shed the virus.

The S&P 500 closed above 3,400 for the first time.

The S&P 500 rallied 34.12 points, or 1 percent, at 3,431.28 and added to the all-time high it set last week, when it erased the last of its losses from the coronavirus pandemic. It followed up on solid gains for stock markets across much of Europe and Asia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 378.13 points, or 1.4 percent at 28,308.46, and the Nasdaq composite added 67.92 points, or 0.6 percent, at 11,379.72.

Hope was rising as pharmaceutical companies continue to work toward a possible vaccine for the virus that emerged in China and after the U.S. government on Sunday approved an emergency authorization to allow the use of convalescent plasma to treat patients. The plasma comes from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus, and it may help people battling the disease, though global health officials say the therapy is still experimental.-AP/The Standard