Stocks Rally, Halting 5-Day Decline

U.S. stocks closed up on Monday after five days of declines amid increasing concern over Crimea’s split from Ukraine to join Russia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 181.55 points at 16,247.22, while the Standard & Poor 500 Index rose 17.70 points at 1,858.83.

Stocks fell for five straight days last week amid tensions over Crimea’s impending vote, CNBC reports. On Monday, after Crimea voted to split from Ukraine and join Russia, the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia, which he said was only the first step.

Because there was no violence following the vote, analysts project investors weren’t as nervous as they were last week. “Last week’s selling got overdone on the possibility of war,” Bittles, a chief investment strategist at R. W. Baird told USA Today. “The vote has been peaceful. There was concern that it could escalate and it didn’t, and that was a big help. And the sanctions proved to be more mild than could be expected. The market was worried about sanctions causing the global economy to slow.”

[CNBC]