U.S. stocks finished sharply higher Monday as gains in tech and a rally in crude futures helped the Dow and Nasdaq Composite score three straight days of gains. The S&P 500 also closed firmly higher led by advances in the energy, materials and technology. Tech’s rally was partially inspired by a nearly 4% rise in the shares of Apple Inc. . The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 178 points, or 1%, to 17,710, with Apple serving as the blue-chip gauge’s biggest gainer. The S&P 500 closed 20 points, or 1%, higher at 2,066, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 57 points, or 1.2%, higher to 4,775. Meanwhile, June West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.51, or 3.3%, to settle at $47.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude’s early ascent helped underpin the day’s gains after a report from Goldman Sachs indicated that oil inventories were shrinking. Apple received a boost after it was revealed in a regulatory filing on Monday that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had purchased a roughly $1 billion stake in the iPhone maker during the first quarter. Investors also appeared to cheer a flurry of mergers and acquisitions news, including Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreement to be bought by Pfizer Inc. .
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