Stocks surge anew

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Falling oil prices and a surprisingly strong report on new home sales were among the factors boosting stocks Wednesday morning, extending the end-of-year rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 82.35 to 12,489.98, Charts) added 0.6 percent over an hour into the session. The broader S&P 500 (up 7.10 to 1,424.00, Charts) index gained 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq (up 13.89 to 2,427.40, Charts) composite gained nearly 0.4 percent.

The New York Stock Exchange began trading after observing a moment of silence at the start of trade in honor of former president Gerald Ford, who passed away Tuesday night. (Full story).

The combination of the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year has been good for an average gain of 1.6 percent on the S&P 500 since 1969, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac. Going back to 1950, that period has been good for a gain of 1.5 percent.

Those seasonal factors kicked in Tuesday and seemed to be in effect Wednesday as well.

Investors also welcomed a report showing a surprisingly strong jump in new home sales and prices in November. (Full story).

Among stock movers, Apple (down $3.28 to $78.23, Charts) slumped 4 percent in active Nasdaq trading on reports that it may have falsified stock options documents. (Full story).

But a number of other big tech stocks rose, including Dow 30 components IBM (up $1.38 to $97.04, Charts), Intel (up $0.31 to $20.46, Charts) and Hewlett-Packard (up $0.62 to $41.55, Charts).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers three to one on volume of 210 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners two to one on volume of 300 million shares.

Strength in international markets added to the bullish mode, with Asian markets hitting record highs and European markets up in afternoon trading.

U.S. light crude oil for February delivery fell 50 cents to $60.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.60 percent from 4.58 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar weakened versus the yen and euro.

COMEX gold rose $4.40 to $631.30 an ounce.

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