NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rallied on Monday as fears over the new Covid variant Omicron subsided.

"Reports of the omicron symptoms being less severe are boosting risk appetite, but it's too soon to get carried away," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA said in a note, CNBC reported. "For one, we've seen this repeatedly since the initial news broke a little over a week ago. Markets have been very headline-driven, and this is just the latest rally on the back of some positive reports."

"While this may be the first in a slew of positive data around the new variant, it could also be the anomaly, and what follows could explain why world leaders and various agencies have been so anxious," he said. "Weeks like this, the economic data would always play second fiddle but as it turns out, it's looking a little thin on that front and central banks are in the same position as the rest of us."

The Dow Jones industrials advanced 646.95 points or 1.87 percent to 35,227.03.

The Nasdaq Composite added 0.93 percent to 15,225.15.

The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 1.17 percent to 4,591.67.

The U.S. dollar was mixed but little changed. The euro hovered around 1.1285 for most of the day, finishing at that level. The British pound edged up to 1.3261 by the New York close Monday. The Japanese yen weakened to 113.47. The Swiss franc fell to 0.9254.

The Canadian dollar firmed to 1.2762. The Australian dollar firmed to 0.7046. The New Zewaland dollar was slightly higher at 0.6751.

Overseas, the Dax in Germany recovered 1.39 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 climbed 1.48 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 1.54 percent.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 417.31 points or 1.76 percent to close Monday at 23,349.38.

At the close of trading in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 102.20 points or 0.36 percent at 27,927.37.

The Australian All Ordinaries dipped 14.60 points or 0.19 percent to 7,529.00

China's Shanghai Composite slipped 18.13 points or 0.50 percent to 3,589.31.