NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. indexes surged to a close Monday after triple-digit gains for the Dow industrials, a broad-based technology rally, and a surge in oil prices broke stocks out of a two-week malaise.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 193.69 to 8627.40, Charts) gained 2.3 percent, while the Nasdaq composite (up 37.91 to 1400.33, Charts) rose 2.8 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (up 20.92 to 910.40, Charts) advanced 2.3 percent.

Stocks gains accelerated during mid-morning on the back of some bullish forecasts for U.S. equities. Lehman Brothers upped its exposure to the U.S. equity market Monday to 50 percent from 39 percent, while Goldman Sachs told investors that U.S. corporate profits were expected to see better improvement than in Europe.

Financials, telecoms and blue-chip techs led the day's advance, while energy stocks were boosted by a sharp hike in the price of oil.

Light crude oil futures gained $1.59 to $30.04, hitting a two-month high on fears of a shortage as a strike in Venezuela headed into its third week.

Some traders were optimistic that stocks would get a seasonal December bounce despite a weak start to the final trading month of the year as the "tax-loss" selling period for institutional investors abated. Institutional fund managers typically close their books toward the year's end. So, in order to offset the profits with the losses in their clients' portfolios, they sell their high-cost poor-performing stocks in November and buy back some of these stocks toward the end of December and in January, after a stipulated 30-day waiting period.

That strategy tends to create what some analysts call the "January effect," in which institutional buying at the beginning of the year drives up stocks.

Market breadth was positive on light volume. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners about 2 to 1 as 1.2 billion shares were traded. On the Nasdaq, winners edged losers 2 to 1 as 1.3 billion shares changed hands.

Despite the day's runup, a few market watchers pointed to the light trading volume and questioned the rally's staying power in the absence of a catalyst to drive stocks higher, instead calling it a "technical bounce" after a prolonged selloff on a day devoid of any economic data.

But that changes Tuesday as investors get a mix of economic updates on housing starts and industrial production and quarterly results from the big consumer electronics retailers.

Housing starts for November are forecast to come in ata seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.69 million compared with 1.603 million the previous month. Perhaps garnering more attention is the Federal Reserve data on industrial production for November, expected to have gained 0.2 percent after October's bid drop of 0.8 percent.

Best Buy is forecast to report flat earnings of 25 cents a share from a year ago, while Circuit City is expected to post a loss of 13 cents a share compared with earnings of 10 cents a share a year earlier.

Technology and financials led Monday's gainers. InVision Technologies (INVN: up $4.44 to $27.41, Research, Estimates) got a strong bounce after the company raised its fourth-quarter revenue and earnings forecast, citing the acceleration of nationwide installation of its explosives detection systems.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: up $0.37 to $18.95, Research, Estimates) rose on the back of a positive analyst note. Merrill Lynch added the stock to its "Focus 1" list, reiterating its previous assessment that the company stands to benefit from its cost-cutting strategy. The brokerage also said that the company has "an opportunity to become the IBM alternative if HP can more clearly distinguish itself." IBM (IBM: up $1.62 to $81.62, Research, Estimates) shares trended to the downside before recovering late in the day and posting a solid gain.

Lehman Brothers upgraded Microsoft (MSFT: up $1.98 to $54.48, Research, Estimates) in its global stocks portfolio. Separately, Microsoft said it was considering plans to share the closely guarded source code of its Windows platform with its Indian clients in a bid counter the image that its zealously guards its products. The move is also apparently a bid to offset the challenges from the free "open-source" Linux platform.

Among financial stocks, Morgan Stanley (MWD: up $1.61 to $43.41, Research, Estimates), Lehman Brothers (LEH: up $2.25 to $56.66, Research, Estimates) and Goldman Sachs (GS: up $1.43 to $74.53, Research, Estimates) led the advance. All three firms report quarterly results Thursday.

Overseas, European markets surged, while Asian-Pacific stocks ended lower Monday. Tokyo's Nikkei index fell for the ninth straight day.

Treasury prices fell, with the 10-year note yield at 4.13 percent. The dollar gained against the yen, but was little changed against the euro.