Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks indexes are climbing sharply at midday following some encouraging news on consumer spending and home sales.
Energy stocks and banks had some of the biggest gains Monday.
UnitedHealth Group jumped 2.4 percent after the nation's largest health insurer said it would buy pharmacy benefits manager Catamaran.
The Dow Jones industrial average soared 261 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,977 as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 21 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,082. The Nasdaq composite climbed 42 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,933.
The price of oil fell 64 cents to $48.24 a barrel in New York.
Government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.96 percent from 1.97 percent late Friday.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
