Stocks rise on Monday

Investors showed on Monday that their appetites for risk remain undiminished. From Bloomberg:

Stocks rose around the world and the dollar and the yen fell as sales of U.S. homes increased more than forecast and speculation grew that central banks will keep interest rates near record lows.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied 1.4 percent to 1,106.24 at 4:07 p.m. in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a 13-month high. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index jumped 2 percent, its best gain in six weeks. Copper surged to a 14-month high and gold reached a record as the Dollar Index fell for the first time in three days.

Positive economic data helped. Reuters reports a jump in US existing home sales.

Sales of existing home sales surged a record 10.1 percent month-over-month in October, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Monday, as buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit for first-time buyers that had been scheduled to end this month...

U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on the housing data, which eclipsed the report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago showing its National Activity Index, a measure of the economy, slid to -1.08 from -1.01 in September.

Bloomberg reports that Europe also had positive news on Monday.

Europe’s services and manufacturing industries expanded at the fastest pace in two years in November after a reviving global economy helped the euro region emerge from the worst recession in more than 60 years.

A composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers in both industries in the 16-nation euro area rose to 53.7 from 53 in October, London-based Markit Economics said today in a statement. That was the highest since November 2007. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.