The bulls were out on Wall Street Monday, pushing stocks higher on the first trading day of the second quarter.

Fresh off a strong first quarter, all major U.S. indicies advanced Monday with the Dow gaining 52 points and the Nasdaq adding 28 points - or nearly 1 percent - to close at 3,119.

The floor of the New York Stock Exchange (Wikimedia Commons)

The Nasdaq is up 20 percent for the year.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, from Reuters:

"With the first quarter locked in, investors may be playing a bit of 'catch up,' putting their money to work today."

Avon led the rally, adding 17 percent after the beauty product company announced it had rejected a $10 billion takeover offer from Coty.

Coupon offerer Groupon bucked the bullish trend Monday, falling 17 percent after it restated earnings.

Wall Street is eagerly awaiting a Facebook IPO, slated for later this year.