Despite an uncertain outcome after three days of talks with Chinese officials, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said President Donald Trump has agreed put "on hold" massive tariffs on as much as $150 billion in annual Chinese imports.
Ten minutes into the day's trading, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average had jumped nearly 300 points, adding 1.2 percent to cross the 25,000-point mark for the first time since March 16, settling at 25,005.72.
The broader S&P 500 was up 0.8 percent at 2,734.90 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq had gained about a full percentage point at 7,426.25.
"Not surprisingly, the knee-jerk response to the 'on hold' status of the trade war has been positive, yet there was the requisite caveat that tariffs could be imposed if China doesn't follow through on the commitment to buy more goods from the US that reduces the trade deficit," Patrick O'Hare wrote a Briefing.com
Elsewhere, there were signs that corporate activity, and not just trade, was helping drive investor appetites.
Embattled engineering giant General Electric jumped 2.5 percent after announcing it will merge its transport business with the rail transport business Wabtec in an $11.1 billion deal.
Semiconductor firm Micron Technology, which was holding its annual investor day on Monday, soared by 4.6 percent after upping its third-quarter earnings guidance.
But Fifth Third Bancorp sank 7.6 percent on news it would acquire MB Financial for $4.7 billion.