New York, Apr 28 (IANS): US stocks ended higher as investors paid close attention to the efforts to normalize economic activities.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 358.51 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 24,133.78. The S&P 500 rose 41.74 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 2,878.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 95.64 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 8,730.16, Xinhua news agency reported.

All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors closed higher, with financials and real estate up 3.6 and 3 per cent, respectively, outpacing the rest.

The focus on restarting economies continues to increase as some US states began to make plans for reopening.

The US state of New York will restart its economy after the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in a multi-phase manner, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

The strategy is to first reopen the construction and manufacturing sectors, and the second phase will be evaluating businesses on a case-by-case basis, depending on how essential they are, said Cuomo at his daily briefing.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 980,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 55,000 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

"Fear of the virus has always been the main source of economic damage. If reopening is too early, or people believe it is too early, fear of the virus could do more economic damage," analysts at UBS said in a note on Monday.