U.S. markets make strong headway Monday

Ford shares rose 4.52 percent while GE shares rose 3.39 percent following a Friday in which the Dow Jones industrial average ended the week above 10,000 points.

SprintNextel shares soared, gaining 17.54 percent while the Dow Jones industrial average put up numbers remarkably similar to Thursday, when it gained 203.82 points.

By close Monday, the Dow added 203.52 points, 2.03 percent, to 10,226.94, a high for the year. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 23.78 or 2.22 percent to 1,093.08. The Nasdaq composite index gained 41.62 or 1.97 percent to 2,154.06.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,541 stocks advanced and 496 declined on a volume of 4.4 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 6/32 to yield 3.48 percent.

The euro rose to $1.4996 from Friday's $1.4847. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 90.014 yen from Friday's 89.94 yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent, 41.015, to 9,808.99.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 rose 1.8 percent, 92.46, to 5,235.18.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.