Stocks rose significantly Monday, pushing the three major indexes to multi-month highs, as a better-than-expected U.S. housing-market report sparked hopes that the economy is closer to stabilizing. The March pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors rose 3.2 percent from the previous month, surprising economists who expected the index to be flat. A government report showed consecution spending rose 0.3 percent in March. Economists expected a decline of 1.6 percent. Light sweet crude oil for June delivery rose $1.27 to $54.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and the yen. Financial stocks are expected to be volatile ahead of Thursday's release of the government's “stress tests” of the country's 19 biggest financial firms. Citigroup is reportedly among the banks that will need to generate more money to survive. It may need to raise another $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. Wells Fargo also has reportedly been asked to raise additional money as the result of the stress test. Bank of America denied a Financial Times report that it has been told by the government it needs to raise $10 billion in new capital. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 214.17, or 2.6 percent, to 8,426.58, its highest point since January 13. Twenty-eight of the index's 30 components rose, led by IBM, Boeing, United Technologies, and Johnson & Johnson. Financial shares also gained. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 29.72, or 3.4 percent, to 907.24, its highest level since January 8. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 44.36, or 2.6 percent, to 1,763.56, its highest point since November 4. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 231.46 to 5,800.22. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 11.44 to 1,451.47. And the Russell 2000 index rose 19.84 to 506.82.
