The markets have now had a few days to process last Thursday's Fed decision not to raise interest rates in September (and possibly not at all for the rest of the year.)  Meanwhile Wall Street has swung back and forth between rallies and panics trying to figure out what it all means.  Today was another rally day with the Dow up 125 points, namely because the interest rate decision provided the predictable boost to the financial sector. Why the overwhelming sentiment out there is that there so little certainly about what the Fed is going to do is something that escapes me.  I think they've made very clear that rates will be gradually hiked when certain economic targets have been met, which have not yet been.  What is unclear about that?  But everyone seems to want something more concrete and, until that happens, volatility will continue.  Now we get to wait until October 16th when the Fed meets again.  Hang on for a fun ride.  At 6.5 billion, volume was below recent averages.

Markets | Mon Sep 21, 2015 4:32pm EDT

Wall St rebounds with financials; biotechs drop

By Caroline Valetkevitch

DJ:   16,510.19  +125.61     NAS:  4,828.96   +1.73        S&P:  1,966.97  +8.94

Sept 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday, rebounding from losses late last week with help from Apple and financial shares, but a drop in biotech shares limited the advance.

Shares of biotech companies fell after U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would announce a plan to stop "price gouging" for specialty drugs.

Biogen fell 5.6 percent to $297.16 and Gilead was down 2.5 percent at $105.74.

The S&P healthcare sector fell 1.4 percent and was the only S&P 500 sector index to end lower. The Nasdaq biotech index slumped 4.4 percent.

Financial shares bounced back after losing ground following Thursday's Federal Reserve decision to keep rates unchanged. The S&P financial index was up 1.1 percent.

But trading was volatile, continuing the recent trend, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in negative territory earlier.

"We had a rebound from Friday's selling... though there still is among investors a high level of uncertainty as to what the Fed statement meant," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

"That kind of hinders investors from grabbing the ball and running with it."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 125.61 points, or 0.77 percent, to 16,510.19, the S&P500 gained 8.94 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,966.97 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.73 points, or 0.04 percent, to 4,828.96.

Fears of slowing growth in China sparked a sharp selloff in global stock markets in recent weeks and the Fed's comments about the global economy exacerbated those concerns.

Investors are now focusing on the next Fed meeting on Oct. 27-28, though some economists now wonder whether the Fed will raise rates at all this year.

Apple was up 1.6 percent at $115.21, leading the S&P 500 higher. The Wall Street Journal reported Apple has designated building an electric car as a "committed project" and has set a target shipping date for 2019.

Chipmaker Atmel jumped 12.7 percent to $8.19 a day after Dialog Semiconductor agreed to buy the company for about $4.6 billion.

Shares of GoPro were down 8.2 percent at $32.27 after Barron's said the video camera maker's shares could plunge to $25 as its latest product launch underwhelmed customers amid increasing competition.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,827 to 1,216, for a 1.50-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,492 issues fell and 1,308 advanced for a 1.14-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 18 lows; the Nasdaq recorded 36 new highs and 68 lows.

About 6.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 8.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.