国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks surge, all major indexes positive for 2010

NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks surged on Monday,with all three major indexes turning positive for the year of 2010, as the latest batch of economic data and corporate earnings from both the United States and Europe signal stronger recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 208.44 points, or 1.99 percent, to end at 10,674.38, the highest close since mid-May.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 40.66 points, or 1.80 percent, to 2,295.36. The Standard & Poor's 500 index broke the key technical levels and finish at 1,125.86, which was 24.26 points, or 2.20 percent higher than the previous close.

Energy shares were among the best performers, with the S&P energy sector jumping 3.6 percent, as Crude futures settled above 81 dollars per barrel for the first time since early May.

Light, sweet crude rose 2.39 dollars to settle at 81.34 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude gained 2.64 dollars to settle at 80.82 dollars a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.

Banking sector also got a boost after some major European banks reported better-than-expected results on Monday.

Meanwhile, the monthly manufacturing purchasing managers' index for the euro zone countries was revised up to 56.7 in July from the previous estimate of 56.5, indicating the European economy is gathering pace.

Adding to the positive tone, a key index of U.S. manufacturing activity came in stronger than expected in July, while construction spending rose unexpectedly in June.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index eased slightly last month to 55.5 from 56.2 in June, while analysts were expecting the reading to drop to 54.1.

Separately, the Commerce Department said construction spending unexpectedly rose 0.1 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836 billion dollars.

Monday's strong move came after the Dow and S&P finished July with the biggest gains in a year, as investors weighed solid corporate results against rather weak economic data.

As the result of resurgent risk appetite, dollar lost its appeal and dropped to its lowest level in three months against the euro.