Wall Street surges as Nasdaq rebounds from its worst week since March

4:05pm EST: Stocks jump on optimism toward a coronavirus vaccine US stocks jumped Monday, as the Nasdaq rebounded from its worst week since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 337 point gain, or 1.18%, to 27,993. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% to 3,383 and the teach-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained nearly 2% to 11.056. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) jumped 3% to $115.36 share, but is still down 10.6% this month. 12pm EST/5pm: FTSE 100 closes in red FTSE 100 index closed slightly in the red on Monday as the strong pound hit dollar earning constituents of the index, while US stocks flew higher. Britain's blue-chip benchmark finished nearly six points down, or 0.10%, at 6,026. The pound added 0.57% against the US dollar. FTSE 250, though, went higher on the day, finishing nearly 100 points up, at 17,655. Wall Street stocks raced north. "US indices have made great strides in early trading, while some of the fizz has come off UK and European markets as their home currencies strengthen," noted Chris Beauchamp, the chief market analyst at online trader IG. "With a solid rebound in breadth across markets today as well, plus vaccine and M&A headlines to provide positive background music, it was an apparently simple job for buyers to once again take control of US stocks." US and Canada 11.30am EST/4.30pm Wall Street benchmarks were going strong in early deals in New York on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 348 points at 28,013. The broader-based S&P 500 added around 55 points at 3,396. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added around 247 points at 11,101. Up in Toronto, the TSX index added over 120 points at 16,343. 3.30pm/10.30am EST: Proactive North America headlines: Lord Global Corporation (OTCMKTS:LRDG) to retain LRDG ticker after name change to 27 Health Zynerba Inc (NASDAQ:ZYNE) to meet with FDA in 4Q to discuss CONNECT-FX data related to company’s flagship Zygel CBD gel Humanigen Inc (OTCQB:HGEN) says review of lenzilumab Phase 3 study of COVID-19 by data safety monitoring board gets green light to continue Royal Road Minerals (CVE:RYR) (OTCMKTS:RRDMF) releases promising new drill results from Luna Roja gold project in Nicaragua Aurania Resources Ltd (CVE:ARU) (OTCQB:AUIAF) (FRA:20Q) begins drilling at the Tsenken N2 copper-silver target at flagship Ecuador project Gungnir Resources  Inc (CVE:GUG) (OTCPINK:ASWRF) announces C$400,000 investment from resource-focused merchant bank Palisades NetCents Technology Inc (CSE:NC) (OTCQB:NTTCF)  exceeds $5M in transactions in August, emerges as “the payment platform of choice” for cryptocurrency Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:MTNB) taps industry veteran Natasha Giordano as board director Starton Therapeutics Inc says Keith Darragh has joined the company as its chief financial officer with immediate effect Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) wins multiyear contract to deploy its Smart Workplace mobile app portfolio with Norfolk Southern Corporation 9.40am:  Wall Street starts higher The main Wall Street indices kicked off the week on the front foot on Monday, boosted by news of numerous M&A deals and optimism around the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Shortly after the opening bell in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.66% at 27,848 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.99% to 3,374 and the Nasdaq rose 1.32% to 10,996. Market optimism has been boosted by both the acquisition of ARM Holdings by Nvidia as well as Oracle beating out Microsoft to form a potential partnership with Chinese firm ByteDance, the owner of video sharing app TikTok. News from Pfizer that the effectiveness of its coronavirus vaccine candidate could be confirmed by October has also likely driven positivity among traders. 7.52am: Wall Street set to advance amid flurry of M&A activity Markets in New York are expected to kick off higher on Monday as a flurry of M&A activity bolstered the main indices on Wall Street. The spread-betters are anticipating the Dow Jones Industrial Average will add 225 points at the open to 27,866, while the S&P 500 is expected to start up 36 points at 3,373 and the Nasdaq to rise 143 points to 11,219. Graphics card maker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is set to be one of the leaders on the back of its agreed Arm deal, while Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be lower following its loss in the war over TikTok’s US operations. But while this latest raft of M&A activity may have excited investors, it’s not the same as the frenzy as seen in previous months, says market analyst Craig Erlam at Oanda. “That’s not to say these things aren't important - and the TikTok deal most certainly is given the geopolitical ramifications - but the focus is just elsewhere at the minute. “There are a number of major central bank meetings this week - including the Fed, BoJ and BoE - and the tech sell-off will likely continue to dominate. Early gains in Nasdaq futures are already being pared which could be problematic ahead of the open.” Five things to watch for on Monday: US consumer inflation expectations for the month of August following July’s increase to 2.9% from 2.68% in June Share price reaction from graphics process maker Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) following its US$40bn deal with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to purchase UK computer chip maker ARM Holdings plc Software firm Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) will also be eyed for any market reaction after it seemed to be in a prime position to take over the US operations of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok after its owner ByteDance turned down an offer from Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) could be in line for a boost following an interview with its CEO Albert Bourla over the weekend in which he said the firm should be able to confirm by the end of October if its coronavirus vaccine candidate works correctly The pharma sector also has its own M&A news, with weekend reports that Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) will acquire Immunomedics Inc (NASDAQ:IMMU) likely to cause a reaction in the shares