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The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 156 points, or 1.5%, to 10,584. The S&P 500 gained 18 points, or 1.6%, to 1133, and the Nasdaq added 39 points, or 1.7%, to 2308.

Percentage gains from Boeing(BA Quote), Bank of America(BAC Quote) and Pfizer(PFE Quote), which advanced around 4% each, helped power the Dow to its highest close since October 2008.

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Stocks extended gains in the morning after a report showed that manufacturing activity rose for the fifth consecutive month in December. An index of national factory activity from the Institute for Supply Management rose to 55.9 — the highest level since April 2006. Economists had expected a reading of 54.

The news came on the same day that Chinese manufacturing data showed that factory activity expanded at the swiftest pace in more than five years in December.

U.S. construction spending, however, fell 0.6% in November, marking the seventh straight month of declines.

Trading volumes strengthened after the somewhat sluggish sessions over the past two holiday-shortened trading weeks. In the afternoon, volume on the Dow hit 179.76 million, compared with volume of 92.9 million for the whole of last Tuesday’s session. The 10-day average volume for the Dow is 152.2 million.

Basic materials and energy sectors were the best performers, as a weaker dollar supported commodity prices. Shares of BHP Billiton(BHP Quote) gained 3.5%, Royal Dutch Shell(RDS.A Quote) added 3.7% and Petroleo Brasileiro(PBR.A Quote) rose over 3%.

 

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