U.S. stocks rose Monday, erasing the Dow Jones industrial average’s 2010 decline, after a Commerce Department report showed improved new-home sales.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 100.81, or 0.97%, at 10,525.43 — up 0.9% year to date. The S&P 500 rose 12.35, or 1.12%, closing at 1,115.01; and the Nasdaq composite was up 26.96, or 1.19%, to close at 2,296.43. All numbers are preliminary.
Sales of U.S. new homes rose more than forecast in June following an unprecedented collapse the prior month, a signal the worst of the slump triggered by the end of a government tax credit is over.
Purchases increased 24% from May to an annual pace of 330,000, figures from the Commerce Department showed in Washington. The rate was the second-lowest in data going back to 1963 after May’s downwardly revised 267,000 pace.
