Dow, S&P 500 shoot up into record territory

New York (May 12)  Stocks jumped Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average shot up to a new all-time high and the S&P 500 topped its record closing high.

The Dow was up more than 100 points and set a new intraday record high of 16,699.55, beating its previous high of 16,631.63 on April 4. The Dow hit a record closing high of 16,583.34 on Friday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.9% to 1,895, rising above its record closing high of 1,890.90. The broad-based index rose as high as 1,895.53, inching closer to its next major milestone of 1900.

The Nasdaq composite index surged 1.6% to 4,137.

A backdrop of an improving economy and low interest rates should favor stocks in the long run, said Gerry Paul, chief investment officer of U.S. value equities at AllianceBernstein.

Pinnacle Foods surged 13% after the company agreed to be acquired by Hillshire Brands. Pinnacle's brands include Duncan Hines and Aunt Jemima, while Hillshire makes Jimmy Dean and Sara Lee products. Hillshire dropped 5%.

Equities in Asia moved in competing directions, with the Nikkei index in Tokyo off 0.35% to 14,149.523.

China's Shanghai Composite jumped 2.1% to 2,052.87 after the Cabinet promised in an announcement late Friday to allow local governments to issue bonds and to streamline the approval process for initial public stock offerings. It gave no details, but the news also boosted Hong Kong's market with the Hang Seng up 1.8% to 22,261.61.

India's Sensex index added 1.88% on the final day of voting in a general election there.

European shares moved higher. London's FTSE 100 index was up 0.6% to 6,851.75 and Germany's DAX index jumped 1.3% to 9,702.46. France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% to 4,493.65.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.66% from 2.63% late Friday.

Oil futures pushed above $100 a barrel with a disputed referendum in Ukraine in focus. The price of oil rose 45 cents, or 0.5%, to $100.44 a barrel.