Shares of Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.78% rallied 5.0% in midday trading Monday, after the e-commerce and cloud giant said it was hiring 75,000 more employees, in addition to the 100,000 it already hired, to help meet increased demand. The stock was now just 1.2% below its Feb. 19 record close of $2,170.22. The company said it now expects to invest more than $500 million in payroll increases, up from a previous estimate of $350 million, as hourly employees wages are increased by $2 an hour, and as hourly base pay for overtime hours worked was doubled. Amazon said it was increasing capacity for grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market "as quickly as possible," with focus on "high-priority" items such as household staples and medical supplies. Amazon's stock has rallied 13.4% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.87% has lost 19.5%.