US STOCKS-Wall Street closes higher as energy, financials lead broad rally

(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street rallied to close sharply
higher on Monday as investors sought bargains among sectors
hardest-hit by the coronavirus recession, now limping toward its
ninth month.
All three major U.S. stock indexes made solid gains on the
heels of the longest weekly losing streak in over a year for
both the S&P 500 and the Dow.
But energy .SPNY , financials .SPSY , and industrials
.SPLRCI , which suffered the most bruising blows from the
economic shutdown, enjoyed among the largest percentage gains
among major S&P 500 sectors.
"Today's market is being led by energy and financials, but
it's a very well-balanced market," said Tim Ghriskey, chief
investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "Every
sector is participating in this rally."
However, even with Monday's jump, the indexes are only days
away from closing the books on their first monthly declines
since March, when markets were sent into a freefall by
pandemic-related lockdowns.
"Given that it's been a weak month, some rebalancing may be
occurring," Ghriskey added. "The rebalancing would move
allocations to equities and some of that may be happening
today."
The third quarter also draws to a close on Wednesday, and
despite September's expected loss, the S&P and the Nasdaq are on
course for their best two-quarter winning streaks since 2009 and
2000, respectively.
Market leaders Apple Inc AAPL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O
once again gave the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
The lack of a COVID-19 vaccine and an additional fiscal
stimulus package from Washington have weighed on the markets in
recent sessions.
But U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
in an MSNBC interview that stimulus talks with Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to continue on Monday,
suggesting a possible progress to end the stalemate.
"I'm not sure there's any chance of it happening before the
end of the year but it's in the news and giving some traders
some confidence," said Ghriskey.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
414.67 points, or 1.53%, to 27,588.63, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
53.78 points, or 1.63%, to 3,352.24 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 204.81 points, or 1.88%, to 11,118.38.
American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O announced late Friday
that it has secured a $5.5 billion government loan, and might
access more. The news sent the commercial carrier's stock
higher. This also gave a lift to the broader airline sector, which
was badly stricken by pandemic-related restrictions and plunging
demand.
Boeing BA.N extended Friday's gains after Federal Aviation
Administration Chief Steve Dickson said the agency was set to
conduct a 737 MAX evaluation flight this week. Devon Energy Corp DVN.N said it would buy peer WPX Energy
Inc WPX.N for $2.56 billion, boosting their respective shares.
Ride-hailing platform Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N rose
after a judge ruled the company could resume operations in
London. ROBOT