S&P 500's Start To March Just Made History

Talk about in like a lion. Wall Street enjoyed sharp gains Tuesday, led by a rally in bank stocks and oil's surge. But for the S&P 500 index . the benchmark's 2.4%, or 46 point, gain to 1,978.35, marked its best start to March ever, according to Dow Jones data. For the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Tuesday's 2.1% spike was its best start to March since 2002, Dow Jones data show. In fact, all three indexes, including the Nasdaq Composite index , scored their best start to a month since 2013. Now, the only question is will stocks roar like a lion to open the month only to leave like a lamb, which would be a bad thing for stock-market bulls.