The S&P 500 rose by nearly 1.9% by the end of trading on Monday, however it still sat 17% of its record high on Jan 3rd. It closed at 3,973.75, as the Dow gained over 600 points, or 2%, to land at 31,880.24. The Nasdaq rose 1.6%, ending at 11,535.27.

Part of the rise was attributed to a statement by President Biden indicating he would ease Chinese tariffs that had been imposed by President Trump. This came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had encouraged the Biden administration to remove the tariffs, which she said imposed “more harm on consumers and business.” The possibility of easing tariffs lowering consumer prices and easing inflation caused investors to see a reduced risk of recession.

Investor concern over a recession arise because there have been 12 bear markets in the S&P 500, and 5 “near bear markets,” when the index dropped by over 19%, since World War II. Among these, the average drop was 29.6%, and on average lasted 11.4 months. However, markets have fallen 34.8% on average when Bear markets coincide with recessions, and these last an average of 15 months.