Wall Street ends higher

Wall Street's major averages closed higher on Monday with economically sensitive sectors and travel-related stocks advancing solidly as invests were encouraged by some optimistic comments from a top U.S. official on the latest COVID-19 variant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 646.95 points, or 1.87%, to 35,227.03, the S&P 500 gained 53.24 points, or 1.17%, to 4,591.67 and the Nasdaq Composite added 139.68 points, or 0.93%, to 15,225.15.