Stocks Open Week With Rally

He also noted that the S&P tagged its 20-day moving average in the prior session's selloff. "That's the natural point for the market to stop here, so there's basically a support right at that level. A lot of the activity you're seeing today is more technical in nature."

Robert Pavlik, chief investment officer with Oaktree Asset Management, noted that Friday's slide occurred amidst the lowest-volume day since Dec. 28 of last year, meaning trading activity registered below even the thinly traded rally that has marked most of 2008.

"I think that's pretty telltale, that the market isn't that interested in selling things off just because oil prices are going higher," Pavlik said. "I get a sense from the market that many are expecting a pullback in oil, and what's been driving it is largely speculation."

A new record for crude oil accompanied the last session's equities plunge, but today futures were in retreat, and that appeared to help bolster investor sentiment. Crude lost $1.73 at $124.23 a barrel.

Even though the nationwide average for gas prices at the pump touched an all-time high of $3.718, according to AAA, retailers were taking benefit from the crude reprieve. Dow components Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) and Home Depot (HD Quote) were up some 2% apiece, and the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index and the S&P Retail Index ramped up 2% and 2.6%, respectively.

At the same time, gold futures lost 90 cents to $884.90 an ounce. The U.S. dollar lost grip on its early gains against the euro, and was recently softening by 0.5% to $1.5552. Against the yen, however, the greenback remained higher by 0.8%.