NEW YORK — The Nasdaq composite closed above 5,000 for the first time since its dot-com era peak nearly 15 years ago after merger news and an encouraging economic report helped push U.S. stocks broadly higher on Monday.
The major indexes rose from the start, with the Nasdaq passing the 5,000 milestone shortly before noon. The tech-heavy index then dropped, before rising toward the close to end at 5,008.10, just 40 points from its March 2000 record.
Investors cheered a report from the government showing household incomes rose in January, though they spent less than a month earlier. Consumer discretionary stocks rose 1.2 percent on the news, the most of the 10 industry sectors of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index.
“Today, it’s about the consumer,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial. “Consumers appear to be feeling a little bit better.”
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average both closed at record highs. The S&P was up 12.89 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,117.39. The Dow rose 155.93 points, or 0.9 percent, to 18,288.63. The Nasdaq rose 44.57 points, or 0.9 percent.
The broad gains on the first trading day of March came after the best monthly advance for stocks in more than three years. The S&P 500 climbed 5.5 percent in February, its biggest gain since October 2011.
In deal news, NXP Semiconductors said Sunday that it’s planning to acquire Freescale Semiconductor in an $11.8 billion deal. The merger would create the largest supplier of microchips for cars.
Boards of both companies have already approved the deal. Regulators still need to sign off on it.
In the U.S. government report, the dip in consumer spending in January was the second monthly drop in a row. But adjusted for inflation, spending rose. And analysts are expecting the strong income gains will lead to more spending the rest of the year. Household income after taxes shot up 0.9 percent in January, the biggest gain in two years.
Investors also were watching developments overseas. The People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for the second time in three months on Saturday, trimming the rate for one-year commercial loans to 5.35 percent.
It was the latest measure aimed at propping up growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
