Stocks rebounded on Monday following their worst weekly decline in months as better-than-expected US industrial production and strong German PMI’s raised sentiment ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week.  Nearly all major sectors traded higher, with Energy, Telecom and Industrials topping gains.  Staples lagged while Healthcare was lower.  Crude Oil and gold are higher amid a weaker dollar. 

U.S. manufacturing output rose for a fourth straight month in November as production at the nation's factories advanced 0.6% last month, building on October's 0.5% gain.  Production increased almost across the board, the Federal Reserve said on Monday.  The report, along with other recent economic data supports views the economy is gaining steam.

In separate reports, New York’s Empire Manufacturing Index showed business conditions turned positive in December, but fell short of economists’ expectations.  As well, financial data firm Markit said its preliminary U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index dipped to 54.4 from a 10-month high of 54.7 in November.

Market Indices/Statistics:

Dow closed up 129.21 pts/ +0.82% to 15,884.57; 26 of the 30 Dow stocks closed higher.

S&P closed up 11.22 pts/ +0.63% to 1,786.54; 9 of the 10 S&P 500 sectors closed higher.

Nasdaq closed up 28.54 pts/ +0.71% to 4,029.52

Telecom was the strongest sector (+0.97%), Staples were the weakest (-0.03%).

The VIX is up 0.27 at 16.03

Gold is up 6.3 to 1240.9

Oil is up 0.67 to 97.60

Nat Gas is down 0.061 to 4.259

Yen vs. Dollar is down 0.20 to 102.99  

Euro vs. Dollar is up  0.0018 to 1.3760

The ICE Dollar Index (USDX) is down 0.11 to 80.08

Top Headlines:   

Shortly after the close of trading, Boeing Company’s (NYSE: BA, $134.72) Chairman, President and Chief Executive Jim McNerney announced that the Boeing board of directors authorized an additional $10 billion for the company's share repurchase plan and declared that the company's regular quarterly dividend will increase by approximately 50% to 73 cents per share.   The news has shares of BA trading roughly 2% higher in the post market. 

A number of large M&A deals have boosted investor optimism of late, with notable transactions including  announcements today from American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG, $50.28, +1.11%), saying it would sell its aircraft-leasing business to AerCap Holdings NV (NYSE: AER, $33.17, +33.05%) in a deal valued at about $5.4 billion, while Avago Technologies Limited (AVGO, 50.10, +9.20%) and LSI Corporation (LSI, 10.96, +38.43%) said they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Avago will acquire LSI for $11.15 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.6 billion. 

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM, $97.22) rose 2.00% on Monday after brokerage firm Goldman Sachs raised its stock rating on the world's largest publicly traded oil company to "buy" from "neutral”.  Goldman said the stock has the potential of rising 17% over its raised price target of $109 as the company approaches a turning point in terms of production growth.  The previous target was $96.

A weekend Barron's article spotlighted an outlook from 10 top Wall Street strategists for 2014. The group was decidedly bullish, with year-end targets for the S&P ranging from 1900 to 2100 (mean prediction 1977, roughly 11% higher than Friday’s close of 1775). The group expects these gains to be made on the basis of a stronger economy and corporate fundamentals, with the market becoming less dependent on indications from the Fed.