国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks rise on Greece bailout hope, consumer spending

NEW YORK, Mar. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks advanced on Monday after reports showed details of a bailout deal for Greece are being discussed and U.S. consumer spending data came in higher than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 78.53, or 0.76 percent, to 10,403.79. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 11.22, or 1. 02 percent, to 1,115.71 and the Nasdaq rallied 35.31, or 1.58 percent to 2,273.57.

The Technology-heavy Nasdaq outperformed broader markets as the Semiconductor Industry Association reported a substantial pick-up in chip sales, boosting buying interest in tech stocks. Notably, SanDisk led storage stocks higher, with its shares surging nearly 12 percent after the flash memory maker raised its revenue forecast for the first quarter late Friday and said the outlook for the industry in the coming years is strong.

Adding Monday's gains, both S&P and the Nasdaq have turned positive for the year, while the Dow was only 0.2 percent lower than the level when market closed on the last day of 2009.

U.S. stocks followed oversea market higher on hopes that European nations will announce a certain kind of rescue package soon, as European Union and Greek officials met to address the mounting debt problem.

Investors were also happy to see that Americans spent more in January. The Commerce Department said before the opening bell that personal income increased by 0.1 percent compared to the prior month, while personal spending climbed by 0.5 percent, higher than economists had expected.

In addition, news about mergers and acquisitions apparently gave the market a further lift. American International Group ended 4.08 percent higher, after surging nearly 13 percent during the day, as the insurance group decided to sell its Asian unit to London-based Prudential for 35.5 billion dollars. AIG, which is 80 percent owned by the U.S. government, will use the money to repay the bailout money.