Investing.com - U.S. stocks ended a lackluster Monday session higher, mainly has bargain hunters continued to snap up nicely-priced technology stocks in a trading day void of major market-moving news.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow 30 rose 0.12%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.38%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.86%.
Bottom fishers snapped up technology and small-cap equities on Monday, the beneficiaries of exceptionally loose monetary policies since the 2008 downtown.
The Federal Reserve is expected to wind up its monthly bond-buying program later this year.
Fed asset purchases boost stock prices by suppressing long-term interest rates, and expectations for the Fed to wind down the program this year have bruised tech, biotech and small-cap stocks in recent sessions, bringing them to levels ripe for bargain hunting.
Markets kept an eye out towards Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its April policy meeting, with many investors opting to wait on the sidelines until they see a new weather vane that will indicate the direction of U.S. monetary policy.
Elsewhere, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shares rose after Astrazeneca Plc (LONDON:AZN) rejected a the U.S. pharmaceutical's sweetened £69.4 billion ($117 billion) tender offer. The U.K. company said the bid failed to reflect the value of the its pipeline of experimental medicines.
AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) shares dropped earlier after the telecom company announced a $48.5 billion bid for satellite TV operator DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) on Sunday, a move unveiled while cable and internet company Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) awaits a regulatory green light for its $45 billion bid for control over Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX).
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included J P Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), up 0.97%, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), up 0.91%, and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), up 0.85%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), down 1.11%, McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), down 1.01%, and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T), down 0.99%.
European indices, meanwhile, ended the day mixed.
After the close of European trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.07%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.30%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.31%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 fell 0.16%.
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Charles Plosser and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley are to speak.