Dow Closes Above 10,200

(Updated with EA earnings news and final quotes.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Dow closed at its highest point since October 2008, as global finance officials signaled that economic stimulus would remain in place for the foreseeable future and commodities surged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 203.5 points higher, or 2%, to 10,226.9. The S&P 500 rose 23.8 points, or 2.2%, to 1093.1, while the Nasdaq advanced 41.6 points, or 2%, to 2154.1.

Currency markets were in focus on Monday as the G-20 meeting in Scotland ended with finance policy-makers reaffirming their desire to preserve stimulus measures. After signaling low rates for the near term, the Dollar Index, a measure that tracks the strength of the dollar against a basket of currencies, reached 15-month lows. It was recently down 1%.

Along with the weakening greenback, commodities prices swelled at midday. Crude oil prices, which were also touched by news of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, grew $2 to settle at $79.43 a barrel. Gold, which hit a record $1,111.70 earlier, gained $5.70 to settle at $1,101.40 an ounce.

"People are using their dollars to buy more attractive assets," says Chip Hanlon, President of Delta Global Advisors. "Why hold a dollar that pays you nothing, in terms of interest rates, when you can own gold."

Hanlon also notes that the fluctuations may be indicative of both confidence and a lack thereof.

"When the U.S. dollar is falling, everything else is going up, pretty much -- stocks around the world, commodities, etc. And, vice versa, if the dollar is rallying, everything else seems to weaken," says Hanlon. "The market is betting that Washington D.C., through fiscal policy, will be able to engineer economic recovery. If they blow on the straw hard enough, they can create a bubble. But by so aggressively boosting commodities, especially gold, the market is also saying that they don't expect it to be a healthy, sustainable recovery, but an inflation-led recovery that will last as long as the stimulus does."