By Anna Hirtenstein

U.S. stocks rose Monday to kick off the first trading day of May, with shares of economically sensitive companies taking the lead.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.6% in recent trading, on pace for further gains after closing out its best month since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged about 315 points, or 0.9%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite added about 0.2%.

Investors are cheering signals that economic growth is picking up in most developed countries, with companies' earnings growth and positive outlook adding to the optimism. At the same time, money managers are assessing the continued spread of Covid-19 in many parts of the world and trying to gauge the outlook for inflation, which could erode the value of investment returns.

"There is a thin balance between all the positives such as earnings momentum, the reopening, the rollout of vaccines and some limiting factors like [high] valuations and inflation perspectives," said Luc Filip, head of private banking investments at SYZ Private Banking. "The market will balance between all these positives and negatives, but we believe the positives will outweigh the negatives."

New data released Monday morning by the Institute for Supply Management showed that a key gauge of the health of the U.S. manufacturing sector missed expectations but remained in growth mode. The ISM Manufacturing Report on Business PMI registered 60.7 in April, versus expectations of 65.0, according to estimates from a survey compiled by The Wall Street Journal. Demand expanded, the data showed. But wide-scale shortages of basic materials, rising commodities prices and difficulties in transporting products continued to affect the industry, the report showed.

A second survey also released Monday by IHS Markit showed U.S. manufacturing activity grew in April, lifted by quick expansion in output and new orders.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at 2:20 p.m. ET at a virtual conference. Investors are likely to be watching for any fresh insights from Mr. Powell on how the economy is faring.

In corporate news, Estee Lauder sank 6.6% after its quarterly revenue came in below analysts' estimates. In contrast, Moderna climbed about 5%. The drugmaker said Monday that it will supply 34 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to an international program that distributes the shots to developing countries.

Tesla edged down 2.1% following a news report that its European battery gigafactory will be delayed by six months.

Among the S&P 500's 11 sectors, the energy and materials groups posted the biggest gains.

In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 1.599%. It ended last week at 1.632%, posting its biggest weekly rise since mid March.

Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%. India's Sensex index declined 0.6%, after losing 1.5% last month. Markets in Japan and China were closed for a holiday.

-- Caitlin McCabe contributed to this article.

Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-03-21 1109ET