NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks rallied anew Monday, with investors returning to equities following Friday's mass exodus and in response to falling oil prices.
The Nasdaq composite (up 14.56 to 2,085.19, Charts) added 0.7 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 6.90 to 1,177.24, Charts) index added 0.6 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average (up 32.51 to 10,489.42, Charts) rose 0.3 percent.
Stocks had started off on shaky ground, but turned higher in the late morning as oil prices retreated and buyers returned.
U.S. light crude for January delivery fell 25 cents to settle at $48.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"We saw crude reverse from the morning, and the market rises," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management. "The price of crude oil has such an impact across the economy, and you see that reflected in the market."
After the close, networking company Brocade Communications (Research) reported earnings of 7 cents per share, a penny more than a year earlier and above estimates.
Tuesday brings the first economic report of the week, the October read on existing home sales. Sales are expected to clock in at a 6.75 million unit annual rate, unchanged from September.
Wednesday is report-heavy, due to the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday. Reports due Wednesday include durable goods orders, new home sales, initial jobless claims, and a revised reading on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.
Rally getting tired?
Stocks have been rallying for several weeks, pushing the major indexes to their highs of the year -- in the case of the S&P 500, to a more than 3-1/2 year high.
Banc of America Securities' Chief Market Strategist Tom McManus wrote in a note to clients that the market is fully valued where it stands now, especially if "positive earnings revisions become scarcer as we have been expecting."
The dollar inched higher versus the yen after falling to a near four-year low in the morning. The dollar also remained near an all-time low against the euro. The currency remained under pressure after a weekend meeting of the finance ministers from 20 nations did not include discussions about the weakness of the dollar.
"The market has every reason to trade down, and so far I think it's showing some resilience," said Mark Bryant, senior vice president at Brean, Murray & Co.
He was referring to the weakening dollar and the still historically high oil prices, both of which had taken stocks down Friday.
On the move
Among the day's big stock movers, Apple (up $6.18 to $61.35, Research) gained more than 11 percent. Brokerage Piper Jaffray raised its 12-month price target on the stock to $100 from $52, citing the growth potential of its blockbuster iPod music player.
Shares of Sirius Satellite Radio (up $0.80 to $5.97, Research) popped 15 percent and topped the Nasdaq's most-actives list after the company's newly appointed chief executive purchased 1.5 million shares, in a show of support for the No. 2 pay-radio company.
Google (down $4.30 to $165.10, Research) inched lower in response to a regulatory filing Friday that showed its founders could potentially sell about 7.2 million shares over the next 18 months.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (down $1.86 to $9.64, Research) was one of the day's big movers. The specialty retailer reported quarterly earnings that fell from a year earlier and missed expectations, due to weaker sales and store closings. The company also withdrew its fourth-quarter guidance and said it wouldn't provide guidance for fiscal 2005.
Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers 11 to 5 on volume of 1.38 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by 3 to 2 on volume of nearly 1.90 billion shares.
Treasury prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 4.17 percent, down from 4.20 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
COMEX gold rose $1.80 to settle at $449 an ounce.
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