:::LALKAR GROUP::::

The Dow rose 227.79 points (0.5%) to 48,362.68, the Nasdaq climbed 121.21 points (0.5%) to 23,428.83 and the S&P 500 advanced 43.99 points (0.6%) to 6,878.49.

The markets continued to benefit from strength among technology stocks, which led the way higher last Thursday and Friday, with trading activity somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data and some traders taking an early break ahead of the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday.

Shares of Oracle (ORCL) climbed 3.3% after Wells Fargo reiterated its Overweight rating on the software giant while AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) advanced after a Reuters report said the company plans to begin shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to Chinese clients before the Lunar New Year in mid-February. Looking ahead, reports on durable goods orders, third quarter GDP, industrial production and consumer confidence due on Tuesday are still expected to draw investor attention.

Gold stocks saw substantial strength as the price of the precious metal soared to new record highs driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.3% to a record closing high. Airline stocks were significantly strong, as reflected by the 1.7% gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Steel, networking and telecom stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.8%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.7%. The major European markets moved to the downside on the day while the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.4%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3% and the German DAX Index edged down by less than a tenth of a percent.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the downward move seen during last Friday's session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, rose 1.8 bps to 4.16%.