Wall Street buoyed by strong retail data

The - will help keep personal consumption on a positive track as far as fourth quarter GDP is concerned - he said.

US shares extended their rally early Monday after a strong reading on US retail sales helped reinforce sentiment that an economic recovery is on track.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 125.91 points (1.23 percent) to 10,396.38 at 1715 GMT on the heels of a strong week that saw gains of more than two percent for Wall Street indexes.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advanced 29.40 points (1.36 percent) to 2,197.28 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index added 15.74 points (1.44 percent) to 1,109.22.

Market action came after the US government said retail sales jumped 1.4 percent in October, well ahead of expectations, even though a large portion was from the volatile auto sector.

Patrick O'Hare at -Briefing- said the overall report was mixed but still shows growth in a segment that accounts for the lion's share of US gross domestic product, or economic activity.

He expected personal consumption to be - on a positive track as far as fourth quarter GDP is  concerned. -

Analysts said market sentiment was also boosted by positive economic news from Asia.

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, who together steer more than half the global economy, said after a weekend summit in Singapore that they would maintain hefty stimulus spending "until a durable economic recovery has clearly taken hold".

Japan announced Monday its best economic growth in more than two years during the latest quarter, boosting hopes the global economy is getting back on its feet after the worst recession in decades.

- Upbeat economic news in Asia, which led to broad-based gains in the region, are helping lift sentiment, along with a better-than-expected increase in October retail sales - Charles Schwab & Co analysts said in a clients' note.

Energy stocks were among the top gainers on the back of higher crude oil prices stemming from the upbeat economic recovery signs.

Chevron gained 1.85 percent to 78.69 dollars and ExxonMobil rose 2.53 percent to 74.30 dollars.

Citigroup climbed 4.44 percent to 4.23 dollars after billionaire investor John Paulson disclosed that his hedge fund took a large stake in the leading bank by acquiring an additional 300 million shares of the bank in the third quarter.

Technology giant Cisco added 1.14 percent to 23.98 dollars as it sweetened its acquisition offer for Norway-based videoconferencing company Tandberg.

Pharmaceutical company Merck rose 3.23 percent to 34.17 dollars after results of a medical trial of its cholesterol drug Zetia were not as negative as some analysts had expected.

The bond market rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond retreated to 3.390 percent from 3.429 percent Friday and that on the 30-year bond fell to 4.298 percent from 4.356 percent.