Wall Street ends nearly 1% in the black

US stock indices closed higher on Monday amid a lack of data from the US, and and ahead of the Federal Reserve's minutes for the July 25-26 meeting on Wednesday, and US retail sales data tomorrow, expected to show the first increase in three months in July. 

Tensions were soothed today regarding the US-North Korea situation, after US national security adviser McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo shrugged off the chances of an escalation into actual ground war between the two countries, while South Korea president called for peaceful resolution to North Korea's nuclear ambitions. 

US president Trump warned North Korea with "fire and fury" as a response to any threats bu the seclusive country, after it declared plans to strike US pacific island of Guam, leading to over trillion dollars of losses in global stocks last week. 

Dow Jones rose 0.71%, or 154.72 points to 22,013.04, while Standard and Poor's 500 gained 1.05%, or 25.74 points to 2,467.06. NASDAQ Composite surged 1.24%, or 77.82 points to 6,334.38. 

Gold futures due on December 16 shed 0.26% to $1,290.70 an ounce from the opening of $1,294.00, while the dollar index rose 0.37% to 93.42 from the opening of 93.07. 

US crude futures due on September 15 tumbled 2.01% to $47.84 a barrel from the opening of $48.82, while Brent crude futures due on October 15 swooned 2.09% to $51.01 a barrel from the opening of $52.10.