Dow approaches positive territory for '09 on upbeat economic news

Stocks took off in the last half hour of trading last Friday. This morning, they picked up where they left off, as the Dow Jones industrial average surged 211 points, or 2.6 percent to close at 8,721. But the gains were hardly universal. While Alcoa (AA), Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), DuPont (DD) and United Technologies (UTX) all climbed more than 5 percent on hopes that the economy is on the mend, bank stocks suffered. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were among the average's eight components stocks to post a loss.

The long-awaited bankruptcy filing by General Motors (GM) didn't faze investors, who seemed to have already moved on to better-than-expected reports on U.S. manufacturing and household income. The Dow is now within 50 points of positive territory on the year.

Cisco (CSCO) and Travelers (TRV), which will replace GM and Citi in the 30-stock DJIA beginning next week, it was announced today, both outperformed the average. Cisco rose 5.4 percent and Travelers gained 3.1 percent.

For more stocks making news, be sure to read BloggingStocks' market wrap up.