NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stocks surged early Monday, led by gains in the technology sector, after Saudi Arabia agreed to boost oil output.
After 10 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average (up 75.09 to 10041.83, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 7.82 to 1101.38, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 21.92 to 1934.01, Charts) all rose, led by an almost 1 percent gain on the Nasdaq.
The major indexes have been flat to lower for four weeks and Monday's early advance was partly a bounce off of these conditions.
The buying was broad-based, with 27 out of 30 Dow components gaining in early trade.
In conjunction with an informal OPEC meeting over the weekend, Saudi Arabia agreed that it would increase oil output by 28 percent starting next month, and is prepared to raise it more in the future.
Any increase in supply would help stabilize the price of oil, although further output hikes are needed, the Group of Seven said this weekend.
Worries about inflation and higher oil prices have been a major weight on the market of late, and the news of the increased supply provided some comfort for investors. On Monday, light crude oil futures edged lower, while Brent crude oil prices added 23 cents to $36.74 a barrel in London.
In corporate news, Merrill Lynch upgraded Caterpillar (CAT: unchanged at $73.03, Research, Estimates) to "buy" from "neutral." The brokerage cited evidence that certain key end markets are starting to recover, as well as the stock's attractive valuation. Shares rose 3.5 percent in early going.
Treasury prices inched higher, pushing the 10-year note yield down to 4.74 percent from 4.76 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar moved higher versus the yen and euro.
COMEX gold fell 30 cents to $384.60 an ounce.
In international trading, Asian markets closed mostly higher Monday, and European markets gained at midday there.
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