Wall Street Cheers Deals

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose 0.3% in February, in line with estimates.

Also, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said its Empire State Manufacturing Index rose to a reading of 3.8 in April from 1.9 in March. The index was expected to jump, however, to 10.0.

Treasuries were higher for the day, as the 10-year note rose 8/32 in price, yielding 4.73%, and the 30-year bond added 20/32 to yield 4.89%. The dollar weakened against the world's major currencies.

Overseas, markets were in positive territory. Tokyo's Nikkei surged 1.5% to 17,628, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared 2.1% to 20,758. London's FTSE was up 0.8% at 6516, and Frankfurt's DAX gained 1.8% at 7338.

On Tuesday, earnings reporting will pick up, as results are expected from Intel (INTC Quote), Yahoo! (YHOO Quote), IBM (IBM Quote) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Quote), among others.