U.S. stocks regain some of last week’s declines

U.S. stock indexes moved solidly higher Monday afternoon, recovering some of last week’s steep declines. Recently battered technology stocks such as Amazon.com and Microsoft all posted gains, helping end a seven-day losing streak in the Nasdaq composite.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117.52 points to 17,891.16. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 0.78 percent to 2,081.43, and the Nasdaq rose 0.88 percent to 4,817.59.

Notably, one major technology stock that did not participate in Monday’s gains was Apple, which closed down 10 cents, or 0.11 percent, to $93.64. Apple has fallen eight days in a row and has now lost 16 percent of its value in the last two weeks.

Technology stocks have been an unexpected drag on the market in the last week. Apple reported its first quarterly decline in profits in years, which sent ripples through the stock market. Investors have been moving into safer investments. The Dow Jones utility index, a collection of 15 dividend-paying utility companies, is up more than 14 percent this year.

“There’s a risk-off sentiment in the market right now,” said David Lebovitz, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds.

— AP