DOW GAINS 230: Here's what you need to know

Stocks climbed from a negative open to erase the losses incurred last Friday, following the end of the second-worst week of the year for the market.

Crude oil also reversed an early loss that sent West Texas Intermediate futures to as low as $40.06 per barrel, finishing the session up 3%.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 17,483.01, +237.77, (1.38%)
• S&P 500: 2,053.18, +30.14, (1.49%)
• Nasdaq: 4,984.62, +56.73, (1.15%)

And now, Monday's top stories:

1. Empire State manufacturing and business activity are still in the pits. The November index from the New York Federal Reserve remained negative at -10.74, below economists' expectation for -6.35. It was a slight improvement from October on the headline, but the details were little changed. New orders, shipments, manufacturing business conditions, and employment all worsened. The six-month outlook for business activity was little changed. However, the metric tells us little about nationwide manufacturing activity, wrote RBC Capital Markets' Tom Porcelli to clients.
2. Marriott International is buying Starwood Hotels & Resorts in a $12.2 billion deal that would create the world's largest hotel company. The combined company would have 1.1 million rooms in over 100 countries. The transaction consists of $11.9 billion worth of Marriott stock and $340 million in cash. For each share of stock, Starwood investors will get $2 in cash and 0.92 Marriot shares priced at $72.08.
3. Shares of biotech company Clovis Oncology collapsed 72%, wiping away $3 billion in market cap. The company announced that the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, requested more data before it approves its lung-cancer treatment rociletinib. Tests indicated that a lower number of patients were responsive to the drug than previously submitted to the FDA. The company said it would provide the data by the close of business. The FDA last week approved AstraZeneca's rival drug called Tagrisso.
4. Warren Buffett is not selling stocks because of Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. Some analysts were concerned that the geopolitical uncertainty, as French president Francois Hollande declared war on ISIS, would dent stocks. He told CNBC this as Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13F filing on long positions emerged. It showed Buffett lowered his stakes in Goldman Sachs and Walmart during the third quarter.

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