Stock Markets Finish Sharply Higher for a Surprising Reason: China

The U.S. stock market came out of the holiday weekend with just as much upward momentum as it had last week. All three major market benchmarks gained ground, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and Nasdaq Composite picking up 1.5% to more than 2% on the day. Today, however, some news from China caused more bullish sentiment to appear across the globe, and even Wall Street benefited from some of the optimism that market participants felt as a result.