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Wall Street returned from the long holiday weekend feeling bullish as U.S. stocks rallied on Monday and the Nasdaq Composite closed at a fresh high. Mondays advance was initially propelled by China, which saw the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 5.7%.

But as the day wore on, big tech drove the market even higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 459.7 points, or 1.8%, to close at 26,287. The S&P 500 added 1.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.2%.

Tech was largely behind Mondays rally with Amazon (ticker: AMZN) surging 5.8% to cross $3,000 apiece for the first time ever. Netflix (NFLX) shares climbed 3.6%, also notching an all-time high.

The Shanghai Composite surged to its highest level in over five years, and the Hang Seng rose nearly 4%, as a front-page editorial in Chinas state-run Securities Journal said a healthy bull market after the pandemic is now more important to the economy than ever.

That suggests the government is likely to do what it can to support the stock market, said Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Group.

Markets across Asia and Europe rose. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% in Tokyo and the German DAX gained 1.6%.

Recent economic data has also helped fuel gains. Germany on Monday reported a 10.4% gain in new manufacturing orders for May, which nonetheless was 29.3% lower than a year ago.

The stock market gains come amid rising coronavirus case loads, particularly in southern parts of the U.S.

States containing over half the U.S. population now meet one or none of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended gating criteria for reopening, point out analysts at Goldman Sachs, who separately downgraded their U.S. economic growth view for the year to a 4.6% contraction from a 4.2% downturn.

New York City entered the third phase of its reopening process on Monday, meaning that nail salons, tattoo parlors and other personal services are allowed to resume business. Indoor dining at restaurants is still on pause, however.

Oil wavered with the price of West Texas Intermediate crude falling 0.2% to $40.58 a barrel while the price of Brent crude popped 0.6% to $43.04 a barrel.

Goldman Sachs (GS) and Boeing (BA) led the Dow with shares climbing 5% and 3.9%, respectively. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) was also a blue chip leader as shares rose 2.8%. Walgreens is set to report earnings on Thursday for its fiscal third quarter.

Uber Technologies (UBER) shares gained 6% after the company announced it would buy Postmates in a $2.65 billion stock deal. The move to buy the food-delivery service comes after attempts to acquire Grubhub (GRUB) fell through.

Dominion Energy (D) shares were down 11%. Dominion and Duke Energy (DUK) scrapped plans to build a natural gas pipeline under the Appalachian Trail due to legal uncertainty. Duke shares were off 2.5%.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway (BRK. B) announced Sunday it would buyDominions natural gas assets in a deal worth $10 billion, marking the Oracle of Omahas first major acquisition during the coronavirus pandemic. Berkshire stock was up 2.2% in Mondays trading.

Tesla (TSLA) shares jumped 13.5% following a bullish note from JMP Securities. Teslas shares have climbed roughly 40% over the last month. The electric car maker also appeared to mock short sellers over the holiday weekend by selling pairs of red shorts on its website.

Harley-Davidson (HOG) shares soared 7.4% after analysts at Citigroup initiated coverage on the motorcycle maker with a Buy rating and a $33 per share price target on hopes that Harley can stage a turnaround.

Write to Steve Goldstein at steven.goldstein@wsj.com and Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com

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Stocks Close Higher With Amazon and Netflix Making Big Gains - Barron's