Dow industrials rally surge on Monday puts blue-chip, stock-market index on track for best day in over a year

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday afternoon was on track for its best point and percentage gain in more than a year, as investors bought a recent dip in stocks that has been at least partly precipitated by fears of the COVID omicron variant and worries about Federal Reserve policy. Monday's gains saw the Dow rise 2.1%, or 713 points, which would mark the sharpest percentage gain for the 30-stock index since Nov. 9, 2020 when it gained 834 points, or 2.95%, FactSet data show. The session's gain was being powered primarily by advances in UnitedHealth Group Inc. , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , Home Depot and Visa Inc. . Only shares of Nike Inc. , salesforce.com and Verizon Communications Inc. were trading in negative territory among the Dow's components in afternoon trade.

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