NEW YORK, Feb. 24 -- U.S. stocks rose Monday to begin the week on a strong note, with the S&P 500 touching a new all- time intraday high, boosted by optimistic market sentiment.

The S&P 500 set a record high of 1,858.71 points in intraday trading before cutting earlier gains to end 0.62 percent higher at 1,847.61, less than 1 point shy of its record closing high of 1, 848.38 set on Jan. 15.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 105.83 points, or 0.66 percent, to 16,209.13. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index surged 29.56 points, or 0.69 percent, to 4,292.97.

In absence of major economic data in the day, Wall Street continued to move upward, showing once again its impressive resilience, as investors grew increasingly convinced that the U.S. economy is strengthening despite recent lackluster data due to abnormally cold weather.

The S&P 500 has nearly wiped out all its losses since the start of the year, rebounding more than 6 percent from its trough on Feb. 3 when weak data and severe winter weather hit Wall Street following its stellar run last year.

Looking forward for the week, a slew of data will start streaming in from Tuesday till the end of the week, including the S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, jobless claims for last week and most importantly, the U.S. gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of last year.

Investors are also eyeing Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's postponed testimony before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. Her appearance in Senate, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 13, was put off due to a snow storm forecast then.

In corporate news, eBay Inc. shares rallied 3.13 percent to 56. 30 dollars apiece as activist investor Carl Icahn called for a spin-off of the online retailer's PayPal division in a letter to investors.

The three major stock indices wrapped up last week mixed, with the Nasdaq extending a three-week winning streak, while both the Dow and the S&P 500 snapped their two-week rally.