.gif)
US stocks pushed higher Monday on optimism about economic improvement amid market hopes of a Santa Claus rally ahead of the Christmas break this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 85.25 points (0.83 percent) to 10,414.14 after a mixed week as investors welcomed increasing signs that the US and global economies were rebounding from recession.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq climbed 25.97 points (1.17 percent) to 2,237.66 while the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index added 11.58 points (1.05 percent) to 1,114.05.
"The bulls are in a jolly mood," analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said in a note to clients on a holiday shorted trading week ahead of Christmas Friday.
"Concerns about the status of global government debt and waning uneasiness regarding the health of the European financial sector are helping support sentiment on the Street," the analysts said.
Investors are seeing increased signs that the US economy is rebounding but concerned the Federal Reserve will tighten easy credit conditions that existed since the world's largest economy plunged into recession in December 2007, analysts say.
"There will be talk of a Santa Claus rally this week," Briefing.com's Patrick O'Hare said, cautioning however that any lackluster market during this period could also trigger selling.
The stock market rally came amid market support from healthcare issues as key health-care reforms proposed by President Barack Obama passed a major hurdle in the Senate.
Senators still have to hold more rounds of voting with a final ballot scheduled for Thursday -- Christmas Eve -- on passing what would be the most sweeping overhaul of its kind in four decades.
Stock investors will also closely monitor a series of economic data to be released beginning Tuesday that could reflect the pace of economic recovery.
They include a final revision on US economic growth for the third quarter, expected to be unchanged at 2.8 percent.
Reports are also due on new and existing home sales and on personal income and spending.
Among rising stocks was Chattem, up a hefty 33.10 percent to 93.14 dollars after French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis said it would acquire the company for 1.9 billion dollars, creating the world's fifth largest consumer healthcare company.
Aluminum producer Alcoa climbed 7.89 percent to 15.73 dollar on an announcement it would join Saudi Arabian mining company Ma'aden in developing a 10.8 billion dollar integrated aluminum complex in the kingdom.
Financial stocks also posted gains, with Bank of America rising 1.66 percent to 15.28 dollars and JPMorgan Chase up 2.32 percent to 41.90 dollars.
Insurers gained as the healthcare reform bill advanced in the Senate. Cigna rose 3.88 percent to 37.19 dollars and Aetna added 4.71 percent to 34.04 dollars.
The bond market fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 3.682 percent from 3.487 percent Friday and that on the 30-year Treasury bond climbed to 4.567 percent from 4.416 percent. Bond prices and yield move in opposite directions.
