NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, with the S&P 500 ending both March and the first quarter of 2014 with gains, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen calmed concerns about a rate hike coming earlier than expected.
On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 134.60 points, or 0.82 percent, to end unofficially at 16,457.66; the S&P 500 <.SPX> added 14.72 points, or 0.79 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,872.34, and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> gained 43.24 points, or 1.04 percent, to close unofficially at 4,198.99.
For March, the Dow rose 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq lost 2.5 percent.
For the first quarter, the Dow fell 0.7 percent, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.5 percent.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)
