US stocks rallied on Monday despite pressure from rising oil prices and a major restructuring plan at General Motors Corp.

A raft of acquisition news carried some stocks higher, but volume was light and was expected to remain so ahead of Thanksgiving. There was also a muted reaction to a Conference Board report that the top economic indicators rose 0.9 percent last month, reversing an 0.8 percent decline in September.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.95 points, or 0.50 percent, to end at 10,820.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.58 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,254.85, its highest close in nearly four years and a half. The technology-laced Nasdaq composite Indexes gained 14.60 points, or 0.66 percent, to finish at 2,241.67.

GM raised by 5,000 to 30,000 the number of jobs it plans to cut in an effort to slash 7 billion dollars of expenses by next year, 1 billion dollars more than previously estimated. The automaker is also shutting nine North American assembly plants and three service and parts facilities. GM sank 47 cents to 23.58 dollars.

Tech stocks got some positive news from TiVo Inc., which said it is expanding its video-recording service so users can upload television shows to Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods or Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Portable. TiVo gained 23 cents to 5.50 dollars, Apple rose 40 cents to 64.96 dollars and Sony added 1.25 dollars to 36. 46 dollars.

Boeing Co. received orders for 26 of its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jets from International Lease Finance Corp., a unit of American International Group Inc., and Low-Cost Aircraft Leasing, which bought 20 and 6 planes, respectively. Boeing rose 2.05 dollars to 69 dollars, and AIG finished up 46 cents at 67.63 dollars.

Energy companies' shares rose, lifted by gains in crude prices from their recent lows as colder temperature in the US northeast, the world's largest heating oil market, signaled an increase in demand.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. a Dow component and the world's largest publicly traded oil company, ended up 1.9 percent, or 1.12 dollars, at 59.37 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

ConocoPhillips, another major US oil company, jumped 3.3 percent, or 2.02 dollars, to 64.25 dollars on the NYSE and helped lift the S&P 500.

Advancing issues led decliners by more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE, where preliminary consolidated volume of 2.11 billion shares lagged the 2.45 billion shares that changed hands Friday.

Source: Xinhua