Stocks have their best day in more than a month

U.S. stocks bounced back from recent losses Monday after China said its economy grew at a slightly faster pace in the first quarter. Banks jumped as interest rates recovered.

After losses in three of the last four weeks, stocks had their best day in more than a month. The largest gains went to industries that would benefit the most from faster global economic growth.

Among banks, the leaders included M&T Bank, which reported strong first-quarter results. Technology companies were led by chipmaker Nvidia and Google parent company Alphabet; online retail giant Amazon and streaming video company Netflix also made large gains.

“It was good news to see a positive number coming out of the world’s second-largest economy,” Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, said of China. “It was the strongest GDP reading in six quarters, and much of it was based on their infrastructure spending and also the housing market.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 20.06 points, or 0.9%, to 2,349.01. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 183.67 points, or 0.9%, to 20,636.92. The Nasdaq composite rose 51.64 points, or 0.9%, to 5,856.79. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks soared 15.94 points, or 1.2%, to 1,361.18.

China said its recovering economy grew at a 6.9% pace in the first quarter. In 2016 it grew at its slowest pace in almost 30 years, and in response the government spent more money on construction of infrastructure such as roads and bridges. Relatively cheap credit also boosted property sales.

Alere surged 15.9% to $49.05 after the medical device maker accepted a modified buyout offer from Abbott Laboratories. More than a year ago, Abbott agreed to buy Alere for $56 a share, or $5.8 billion. But it filed a lawsuit to end the deal after Alere recalled a key product, delayed filing a financial statement, and faced a Justice Department investigation into its business outside the U.S. Under the new agreement Abbott will pay $51 a share, or about $5.3 billion.

Alere traded as low as $31.47 last July, as investors worried the deal would fall apart after news of the investigation broke. Abbott rose 1.5% to $43.31 on Monday.

Arconic jumped 3.1% to $26.69 after the company said Chairman and Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld agreed to step down after the board of directors discovered that he sent a letter to Arconic’s largest shareholder, activist investment firm Elliott Management, without telling the board. Arconic said that was “poor judgment.” It didn’t say what Kleinfeld wrote in the letter.

Arconic makes aluminum, titanium and nickel parts for planes, cars and electronics. It was spun off from aluminum company Alcoa last year. Elliott has been pushing the company to replace Kleinfeld.

Bond prices slipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.25% from 2.24%. Banks have been the worst-performing part of the market recently because of sharp declines in bond yields and interest rates.

Wireless spectrum license company Straight Path Communications soared 21.7% to $111.56 after it said it might get a new buyout offer. A week ago it agreed to be bought by AT&T for about $1.25 billion. Straight Path said it was contacted by another company Thursday. Investors are now valuing it at $1.39 billion.

Eli Lilly fell 4.1% to $82.38 and Incyte sank 10.5% to $126.07 after the Food and Drug Administration refused to approve Olumiant, a pill for the immune disorder rheumatoid arthritis. The companies may have to run more studies of the drug, which could further delay its approval and cause them to spend more. Eli Lilly has high hopes for Olumiant because it’s a pill; most other new rheumatoid arthritis drugs are injections.

Pretzel, nuts and salty snack maker Snyder’s-Lance tumbled 15.4% to $33.76 after it gave a weak first-quarter forecast that included more spending on marketing and lower profit margins and then slashed its forecast for the year.

Netflix climbed 3% to close at $147.25, but it slumped 1.5% in after-market trading after the streaming video company said it didn’t gain as many subscribers in the first quarter as investors hoped. Its profit guidance also fell short of analyst estimates.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 53 cents to $52.65 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 53 cents to $55.36 a barrel in London. Energy companies lagged behind the rest of the market.

Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.72 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.63 a gallon. Natural gas fell 6 cents, or 2%, to $3.16 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $3.40 to $1,291.90 an ounce. Silver stayed at $18.51 an ounce. Copper rose 3 cents to $2.60 a pound.

The dollar fell to 108.59 yen from 109.16 yen. The euro rose to $1.0642 from $1.0612.

Markets in Hong Kong, France, Germany and Britain were closed for the Easter holiday. In Japan the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5%.

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UPDATES:

3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with closing prices, context and analyst comment.

1:10 p.m.: This article was updated with the close of markets.

7:50 a.m.: This article was updated with market prices and context.

This article was originally published at 6:50 a.m.