NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks are jumping Monday morning as the market rapidly changes course once again.
Technology companies are climbing, with open-source software company Red Hat surging after IBM agreed to buy it for $34 billion in stock.
Internet and media companies are rising and so are companies that make and sell consumer goods.
Stocks in Europe also turned sharply higher. Italy's main stock index rallied after Standard & Poor's did not lower the country's credit rating.
German stocks rose even though longtime German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she won't run for another term in 2021. The Bovespa in Brazil climbed after far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro was elected president.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index climbed 35 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 2,693 as of 9:57 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 229 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 24,918.
The Nasdaq composite gained 86 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 7,253. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 19 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,503.
Stocks have plunged since early October and trading has been especially volatile the last few days. The S&P 500 stage a big rally Thursday, and then gave up virtually all of those gains Friday before climbing Monday. The S&P 500 is down 7.6 per cent this month, which would be its worst monthly loss since May 2010.
DO YOU LIKE MY HAT? IBM said the purchase of Red Hat will help the company take the next step in cloud computing. Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty said the deal will make IBM the world's biggest hybrid cloud provider, meaning it will offer companies a mix of on-site, private and third-party public cloud services. Red Hat stock soared 47.8 per cent to $172.42, reversing its losses from earlier this year. IBM fell 1.5 per cent to $122.94.
EUROPE: Italy's FTSE MIB index rose 2.4 per cent after Standard & Poor's did not downgrade the company's credit rating any further. Italy's new government plans to ramp up spending and European Union leaders have demanded it change its plans. Germany's DAX jumped 1.8 per cent after Merkel said she won't seek a new term. She has been chancellor of Germany for 18 years.
The CAC 40 in France added 0.8 per cent and the British FTSE 100 rose 1.7 per cent.
BRAZIL: The Bovespa in Brazil gained 0.7 per cent after Bolsonaro won the election. The former army captain who cast himself as a political outsider despite a 27-year career in Congress and rose to power by mixing hard right positions with tough, often violent words about women, gays and black and indigenous Brazilians. But investors and the electorate preferred him to leftist parties.
BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.10 per cent from 3.07 per cent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 0.6 per cent to $67.17 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 0.4 per cent to $77.30 per barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 112.53 yen from 111.85 yen. The euro fell to $1.1371 from $1.1412.
ASIA: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 sank 0.2 per cent and Seoul's Kospi lost 1.5 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.4 per cent.
