Dow Jones Industrial Average Gains As Wall Street Braces For Q3 Earnings Season

This story was updated at 4 p.m. EDT

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallying 300 points, as investors prepared for the start of earnings season. Investors have seen around $11 trillion wiped off the value of global equities in the third quarter this year, driven by fears China’s economic slowdown would spread globally.

“Volatility has picked up recently with oil, inflation, interest rate expectations, China and ... corporate disasters all contributing to equity prices having an unseasonably choppy time. However, investors can take optimism that the selloff in equity prices means earnings multiples of companies has been improved from the last quarter,” Alastair McCaig, senior market analyst at IG Group, said in a note Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) gained 304 points, or 1.8 percent, to close at 16,776. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (INDEXSP:.INX) added 36 points, or 1.8 percent, to finish at 1,987. The Nasdaq composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) rose 74 points, or 1.6 percent, to end at 4,781.

All of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 closed higher, led by gains in industrial, energy and telecom stocks. Dow components Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) led the index higher, adding 5.33 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively.

The energy, material and industrial sectors received a boost after oil prices rallied more than 3 percent on news Russia said it was ready to meet with OPEC and other non-member crude producers to discuss the crude market. Global crude prices have lost more than half of their value over the last year due to fears of oversupply.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark for U.S. oil prices, added more than 3 percent to $46.26 per barrel for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On the London ICE Futures Exchange, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, gained 2.2 percent to $49.21.

Shares of Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) gained 7 percent Monday after the social microblogging site officially named co-founder Jack Dorsey as chief executive, a position he previously held from 2006 to 2008.

Dorsey, who had been serving as CEO on an interim basis since July 1, came in after former chief executive Dick Costolo stepped down amid mounting expectations for the social networking giant to generate high user growth.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA), the world's third-largest producer of aluminum, will kick off third-quarter earnings season Thursday when the company announces its latest quarterly results after the closing bell. Corporate earnings are forecast to fall by 4.1 percent, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

U.S. stocks staged a dramatic rebound Friday, with the Dow rallying 200 points to post biggest reversal in four years. Stocks initially plunged Friday morning after fewer-than-expected jobs were created in September, giving Federal Reserve officials room to pause before raising interest rates.

The disappointing September employment report, coupled with recent stock market turmoil on concerns over China's cooling economy, could mean the Fed will hold off on raising the cost of borrowing for the first time in nearly a decade.

Fed funds futures tumbled following the weaker-than-expected jobs report, with markets now pricing the Fed’s first rate hike in March 2016.