Bear Stearns helped financial shares post their first advance in nine days. Apple Inc., maker of the iPod and iPhone, climbed to a record before a report expected to show annual sales surpassed $20 billion. Merck & Co. rallied the most in three months after the third-largest U.S. drugmaker reported profit that topped analysts' estimates.
About nine stocks gained for every five that fell on the New York Stock Exchange as U.S. markets overcame a 115-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and losses in Europe and Asia.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 5.7, or 0.4 percent, to 1,506.33. The benchmark for American equities lost 3.9 percent last week, the most since August. The Dow average climbed 44.95, or 0.3 percent, to 13,566.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 28.77, or 1.1 percent, to 2,753.93.