US equity markets made a strong start to March, buoyed by data showing that the manufacturing sector continues to gather steam and with the recent volatility on Treasury markets dying down – Dow gained +603-points or +1.95%, and booking its best daily gain since November last year. Boeing Co (up +5.84%) led the advance, with United Airlines Holdings Inc (+1.20%) said it is buying 25 additional 737 Max planes and taking delivery of other orders earlier than previously planned. The broader S&P500 rallied +2.38%, logging its best single session performance since 5 June last year. Information Technology (up +3.18%) and Financials (+3.12%) gained over >3% to lead all eleven primary sectors higher. Royal Caribbean Ltd fell 2.06% after the cruise operator said it has commenced a US$1.5B public stock offering. The Nasdaq jumped +3.01% to settle with its best single session advance since 4 November. Apple Inc gained +5.37% after all 270 of its stores in the U.S. were open to the public for the first time since last March. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index jumped +3.43%, recording its sharpest daily percentage gain since 6 January.