US stocks close higher to bounce back from last week's losses

ANKARA

Major US stock indexes closed higher Monday to bounce back from losses in the previous week despite risks surrounding Chinese real estate developer Evergrande and the omicron variant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 646 points, or 1.87%, to 35,227. The blue-chip index saw a loss of 0.9% last week, its fourth weekly decline in a row.

The S&P 500 rose 53 points, or 1.17%, to 4,591 after declining 1.2% last week and posting its second consecutive weekly loss.

The Nasdaq increased almost 140 points, or 0.93%, to 15,225. The tech-heavy index plummeted 2.6% last week.

Indexes were mixed shortly after opening amid news that Evergrande, which has about $300 billion in total liabilities, said late Friday that it may not have enough funds to meet its financial obligations.

Investors have been worried that the collapse of Evergrande could create a domino effect similar to the US mortgage crisis in 2007, which turned into a global financial crisis the following year.

Despite climbing above the critical level of 30 twice last week, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 11.6% to 27.18.

The dollar index was up 0.2% to 96.30, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes jumped 7.1% to 1.436%.

Precious metals were down, with gold losing 0.3% to $1,778 an ounce and silver decreasing 0.75% to $22.38.

Crude prices were up more than 5%, with Brent crude trading at $73.66 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude at $69.97.