U.S. stock indexes climb; GM gains on buyback announcement

NEW YORK - The stock market's bull run turned 6 on Monday. The anniversary was marked with modest gains.

Stocks were rebounding from a big sell-off on Friday, when the market slumped after an unexpectedly strong jobs report. The healthy hiring picture bolstered speculation that the Federal Reserve would raise its interest rates sooner than had been expected.

On Monday, General Motors was among the biggest gainers after announcing a $5 billion stock buyback plan. Deal news also gave the market a boost. Macerich, a real estate investment trust, jumped after bigger rival Simon Property made a hostile bid for the company.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.17 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,079.43. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 138.94 points, or 0.78 percent, to 17,995.72. The Nasdaq composite climbed 15.07 points, or 0.31 percent, to 4,942.44.

The S&P 500 has tripled since bottoming out at 676.53 six years ago in the wake of the housing market collapse and the recession. The streak of gains is the fourth longest since the 1940s and has pushed the stock market to record levels.

The divergence between the Fed and the European Central Bank's monetary policies has caused the dollar to appreciate against other currencies. The dollar has surged since December, gaining against both the euro and the yen. The dollar traded at $1.0853 against the euro on Monday, close to a 12-year high. It also gained against the yen, climbing to 121.15 yen.

U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19 percent from 2.25 percent on Friday.

Precious and industrial metals futures closed mixed. Gold edged up $2.20 to $1,166.50 an ounce, silver fell three cents to $15.78 an ounce and copper rose six cents to $2.67 a pound.

The price of oil rose slightly on forecasts that a dramatic increase in inventories at the country's main storage hub in Cushing, Okla., may be abating. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 39 cents to close at $50 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell $1.20 to close at $58.53 a barrel in London.

In other futures trading on the NYMEX, natural gas fell 16.1 cents to close at $2.678 per 1,000 cubic feet.