Wall Street stocks opened the week firmly higher, as Microsoft and Amazon put some further Big Tech weight behind the rally that started last week.
The Dow Jones surged 604 points, or 1.2% in early trade, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.9%.
Microsoft led the blue-chip leaderboard with a 4.3% rise, followed by Boeing and Amazon, both up around 4%.
Big technology stocks such as Amazon, Alphabet and Adobe all advanced strongly, while the rally left much of the semiconductor sector behind, with Arm and Seagate tumbling 7.3%, while Western Digital and Micron have slumped 5.5%, ahead of Lam Research, SanDisk, Intel and Marvell
As seen in Europe earlier, travel shares sailed higher on the back of encouraging reports about Middle East geopolitics, with Norwegian Cruise Line and United Airlines gaining about 5%, and Carnival up 4.4%.
Last week and month ended with technology stocks in the lead, leaving the Nasdaq up 1% to 25,373. The S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 7,489 and the Dow Jones rose 0.5% to 52,485.
The rebound followed a difficult July for technology shares, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbling 20.6%, its worst month since 2008 and a major contribution to the Nasdaq dropping 3.2%. By contrast, the S&P 500 and the Dow were broadly flat as investors rotated into non-technology sectors.
Attention is also fixed on the yen after the US and Japan confirmed last week saw their first co-ordinated currency intervention since 2011. The yen has strengthened another 0.5% against the dollar to 156.60, having gained more than 4% last week.
Tokyo may have spent almost $59 billion buying yen on Thursday, with Washington reportedly providing a further $5-10 billion. Both countries have indicated they are prepared to intervene again.
Earnings will provide the other major test, with about 20% of the S&P 500 reporting this week.
AMD, Caterpillar, McDonald's, Eli Lilly, Disney, Uber, Airbnb and Berkshire Hathaway are among the companies due to publish results.
Market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB says: "If anyone thought things would be quiet for markets this August, they are only heating up."
Ahead of the open, shares in Bristol Myers Squibb were up over 4% after a report in the Financial Times that AstraZeneca, Britain's biggest drugmaker, is in talks to buy its US rival.