Dow surges thanks to Boeing and strong home sales

The Dow rose more than 400 points, or 1.7% in midday trading Monday. Dow component Boeing led the gains, surging 6% after the Federal Aviation Administration said Boeing could begin test flights of its grounded 737 Max jets.

A stronger than expected 44.3% surge in pending home sales for May also helped list investors' spirits. The numbers are yet another sign of a rebound in housing -- and potentially the overall economy, which is now in the midst of a recession due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each up 1% as well. And all eleven market sectors were higher, including technology.

Tech stocks were expected to be under pressure Monday due to a growing boycott of Facebook by advertisers due to a prevalence of hate speech and misinformation on its platforms.

But shares of Facebook, which fell more than 8% Friday and opened lower Monday morning, were up in midday trading even as blue chip companies like Starbucks, Diageo and Levi Strauss joined Unilever, Verizon and other companies that have decided to pull ads from Facebook.

Stocks plummeted Friday due to growing concerns about a second wave of Covid-19 cases in Florida, Texas and other states.

Investors are bracing for more data about how the US economy is holding up in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak when the government reports the June jobs numbers on Thursday.

The economy unexpectedly added 2.5 million jobs in May and the unemployment rate fell -- although to a still high level -- of 13.3%. The jobs numbers are being released Thursday since the stock market is closed Friday in observance of the July 4th holiday.