The S&P 500 rose on Monday as the benchmark tries to continue its comeback from correction territory following a four-week rout on Wall Street exacerbated by President Donald Trump's chaotic tariff policy rollout and falling consumer confidence.

The broad market index gained 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite
fell 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
advanced 237 points, or 0.6%, bolstered by gains in Walmart
and International Business Machines

Helping sentiment was the February retail sales report, as traders breathed a sigh of relief that the figures weren't worse. Retail sales increased 0.2% on the month, below the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.6% increase, according to the advanced reading Monday from the Commerce Department. But excluding autos, the increase was 0.3%, which was in line with economists' expectations.

The S&P 500 closed in a correction on Thursday, down more than 10% from its record high in late February. It then soared 2% on Friday as investors snapped up beaten-up technology shares.

"We're in a near-term counter-trend rally," Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, told CNBC, adding that he believes the correction might conclude around the 5,400 level for the S&P 500. That would imply a decline of more than 4% from Friday's close.

"Not much more to the downside, but … I think that will shake off enough loose hands to allow the market to try to find a bottom," he continued.

Despite Friday's pop, it was still a brutal week for Wall Street. The Dow had its biggest one-week drop since 2023. The Nasdaq Composite
remains in correction territory, down 12% from its record through Friday's close.

Investors are struggling to keep pace with President Donald Trump's fast-changing tariff policies, along with the aggressive cost-cutting effort's of Elon Musk's DOGE department, that have put markets in a tailspin and raised worries about corporate and consumer confidence.

Comments from the administration that some economic and market pain would be tolerated to overhaul most government agencies alongside global trade policy have also weighed on markets.

"I've been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy. They're normal," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "What's not healthy is straight up, that you get these euphoric markets. That's how you get a financial crisis. It would have been much healthier if someone had put the brakes on in '06, '07. We wouldn't have had the problems in '08."

Bessent, who previously said a "detox" period could be needed to transition the economy off government spending to more private spending, added there are "no guarantees" a recession would be avoided.

"The US ‘detox' of efficiency, deregulation, and trade may mean more market pain before visible GDP gains," wrote Derek Harris, portfolio strategist for Bank of America Securities, in a weekend note.

Source: CNBC