Major Averages Close Sharply Higher After Last Friday's Sell-Off

(RTTNews) - Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Monday. With the gains, the major averages nearly offset last Friday's losses, although they remain below their recent highs.

Railroad stocks saw substantial strength on the day, driving the Dow Jones Railroads Index up by 2.6 percent. With the gain, the index climbed further off the six-month closing low it set last Wednesday.

CSX Corp. (CSX) helped to lead the railroad sector higher, jumping by 4.8 percent to its best closing level in a month.

Significant strength was also visible among trucking stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Trucking Index. Within the trucking sector, YRC Worldwide (YRCW) surged up by 4.1 percent.

Software stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, resulting in a 1.8 percent jump by the Dow Jones Software Index. Check Point Software (CHKP) posted a standout gain after reporting better than expected quarterly results.

Airline, telecom, utilities, and computer hardware stocks also moved notably higher, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow jumped 208.63 points or 1.2 percent to 18,034.93, the Nasdaq surged up 62.79 points or 1.3 percent to 4,994.60 and the S&P 500 climbed 19.22 points or 0.9 percent to 2,100.40.