Stocks Kick Off March With Massive Rally

It was a Super Tuesday for markets, too. Wall Street left the doldrums of the first two months of the year behind to kick off March with a blockbuster rally. 

Traders had their pick of good news to fuel positive vibes throughout the day: the U.S. manufacturing sector showed signs of improvement, strength in car sales continued through February, and crude oil closed above $34 a barrel. 

Gains piled upon gains to help benchmark indexes close at session highs. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both added 2.1%, and the Nasdaq gained 2.9%.

Investors' moods were buoyant after manufacturing activity was better than expected pace in February. Activity last month remained just shy of growth as a stronger U.S. dollar and weaker global demand continued to impede progress. The ISM manufacturing index hit 49.5 in February, up from 48.2 in January and better than an expected 48.5 reading.

"While still negative, production activity appears to be markedly less negative at the moment -- hardly a robust assessment but better than a sharp stick in the eye," said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel. "Still facing the perfect storm from a heightened U.S. dollar, ample inventory overhang and tepid global demand, producers are still cutting back production, albeit at a slower pace than when the [Federal Reserve] opted to raise rates for the first time in December."

Construction spending in January climbed 1.5%, an eight-year high and far better than estimated 0.4% growth. Spending increased a meager 0.1% in December.

Consumers continued to purchase a massive number of cars in February, even as overall confidence in the economy faltered. U.S. sales of lightweight vehicles totaled 17.4 million units last month. Ford (F - Get Report) reported a massive 20.4% surge in unit sales in the period, rocketing past estimates of 12% growth. Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) posted a 12% increase, its seventy-first month of sales growth.

General Motors (GM - Get Report) , however, missed February sales estimates by a wide margin. The Detroit automaker reported a 1.5% decrease to 227,825 vehicles. Consensus was for sales growth of 3% to 8%.

Crude oil bounced back to positive territory on Tuesday, reaching a two-month high. The commodity had a solid start to the week on high hopes of an agreement between Russia and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries over a production freeze. Saudi Arabia voiced its support for cooperation to stabilize prices on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude closed 1.9% higher on Tuesday at $34.40 a barrel.

High-momentum tech names led Wall Street higher including industry giants Apple (AAPL - Get Report) , Amazon(AMZN - Get Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL) , Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) . The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) added 2.7%.

By Keris Alison Lahiff 

Source:http://www.thestreet.com/story/13478469/1/stocks-kick-off-march-with-massive-rally.html