Global Rally Spurs Wall Street

Updated from 4:12 p.m. EST

Stocks in the U.S. surged early following upbeat sessions overseas, then survived a brief afternoon scare before managing to close moderately higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 100 points during the morning before losing momentum. Around 2:30 p.m. EST, it showed a gain of only around 30 points. However, the Dow recovered and finished up 68.25 points, or 0.56%, at 12,260.70.

The S&P 500 rose 9.92 points, or 0.71%, to 1401.89, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 13.09 points, or 0.55%, at 2387.73.

Twenty-six of the Dow's 30 components finished in positive territory, with Verizon (VZ Quote), AT&T (T Quote), American Express (AXP Quote) and Honeywell (HON Quote) leading the gains.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, benefited from rises in KLA-Tencor (KLAC Quote), Nvidia (NVDA Quote), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI Quote) and Akamai Technologies (AKAM Quote).

Many subdivisions of the market improved. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index climbed 1.8%, the NYSE Financial Index gained 1%, and the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index was higher by 0.6%.

About 3.03 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where advancers beat decliners by an 8-to-3 margin. On the Nasdaq, volume reached 1.75 billion shares, as winners outpaced losers 3 to 2.

Last week, stocks took a nosedive amid a massive selloff around the world, but the major indices are performing better this week. Over the past four session, the Dow is higher by 1%, the S&P 500 has risen 1.1%, and the Nasdaq has added 0.8%.