Stocks: Strong start to 2007

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks surged Wednesday morning, starting off the first trading day of 2007 on upbeat note, as investors welcomed falling oil prices, lower Treasury yields and a management shakeup at Home Depot.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 67.53 to 12,530.68, Charts) added 0.5 percent in the early going, hitting a fresh record trading high.

The broader S&P 500 (up 6.98 to 1,425.28, Charts) index added nearly 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq (up 25.43 to 2,440.72, Charts) composite gained 0.9 percent.

Stocks slipped Friday at the end of a strong year on Wall Street. All financial markets were closed Monday for New Year's Day and Tuesday for the national day of mourning for President Ford.

After the unusual four-day market closing, investors came back in droves Wednesday.

Factors influencing trade in the early going included a drop in oil prices.

U.S. light crude oil for February delivery slipped $1.02 to $60.03 a barrel in electronic trading after having fallen below the $60 a barrel threshold.

Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.64 percent from 4.71 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In corporate news, Home Depot (up $1.22 to $41.39, Charts) CEO Robert Nardelli is leaving the company. Nardelli, who was criticized for the size of his pay package and for his management style, will leave with a $210 million severance package. (Full story).

Home Depot shares jumped 3 percent, while rival Lowe's (up $0.74 to $31.89, Charts) gained 2 percent.

Investors were still riding high on the momentum of 2006, the fourth up year in a row for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite. It was the third of four upbeat years for the Dow, after the blue-chip average fell slightly last year.

The S&P gained 13.5 percent last year and the Nasdaq gained 9.6 percent. The Dow industrials gained 16.4 percent.

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