U.S. stocks rallied, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a seven-month high, after reports on personal income, manufacturing and construction beat economists’ forecasts. Commodities also climbed.

The dollar dropped to the lowest this year against the euro. Treasury 10-year yields surged the most in eight months as the reports on the economy damped demand for the safety of government debt.

The shares of Alcoa Inc., Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. jumped at least 5.8 percent to bring the Dow Jones Industrial Average within 0.7 percentage point of erasing its 2009 slide. The gains extended a global advance that pushed the MSCI World Index to the highest since November as manufacturing growth in China signaled the worst of the recession may be ending.

The S&P 500 surged 2.6 percent to 942.87, its highest close since Nov. 5. The Dow rose 221.11 points, or 2.6 percent, to 8,721.44, the highest since Jan. 8. Almost nine stocks climbed for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Bloomberg.com)