Major stock indexes rose more than 1% to new 13-month highs. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 136.49, or 1.33%, to 10,406.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15.82, or 1.45%, to 1,109.30, the first convincing move above 1,100 after hovering around that level for the past month. The Nasdaq composite index rose 29.97, or 1.38%, to 2,197.85.

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.4% in October, easily surpassing the 0.8% increase forecast by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. It was a sharp rebound following the 2.3% drop in September. Excluding the gain from autos, however, sales rose just 0.2%, half of what economists predicted.

Jamie Cox, a managing partner at Harris Financial Group, said the sales growth was a good sign heading into the holiday shopping season, especially because the data were not affected by factors such as sales tax holidays and government stimulus programs that had been present in the preceding months.

The weaker dollar lifted gold to a new record and pumped up prices of other commodities, including oil. That, in turn, helped shares of energy and materials companies.

Stocks briefly pared their gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said policymakers would monitor the dollar while at the same time repeating that the Fed will hold interest rates low until the economy strengthens. That gave a short-lived boost to the dollar.

The market's own dynamics fed some of the day's gains, analysts said.

Dan Deming, a trader with Stutland Equities, said the S&P 500's move above 1,100 gave some investors a shot of confidence and led to short-covering, which tends to amplify gains in the market. Short-covering occurs when investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall.

"We're breaking through the 1,100 mark, which is psychologically significant, and the market is seeing a little pop from that," Deming said.

The ICE Futures US dollar index, which measures the dollar against other currencies, fell 0.6%. Gold reached a record $1,143.40 an ounce.

Investors have been using the weak dollar to finance purchases of higher-yielding assets. The move, what's known as a "carry trade," can further weaken the dollar.

Bond prices rose, pushing down yields. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.37% from 3.42% late Friday.

General Motors said it lost $1.2 billion in the period since emerging from bankruptcy and the end of the third quarter on Sept. 30. Despite the loss, GM said it will begin to repay $6.7 billion in government loans and was seeing a stabilization in its business.

Home improvement retailer Lowe's reported lower profits that matched analysts' expectations and said it was seeing stabilization in some of the hardest hit housing markets. The company's shares fell 6 cents to $21.79.

Investors will get more insight into consumer spending from retailers Home Depot, Target and TJX, which are due to report earnings Tuesday.

Cox said the wide range of retailers reporting earnings during the week will provide signals into whether shoppers are willing to step up their spending and move back toward more expensive goods. Investors will be parsing any updated forecasts from the companies ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The stock market is coming off a strong week, which added more than 2% to major indexes. On Friday, the market was buoyed by encouraging earnings reports and outlooks from major retailers Abercrombie & Fitch and J.C. Penney as well as The Walt Disney

Crude oil rose $2.84 to $79.19 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Energy stocks rose. Baker Hughes rose $1.89, or 4.5%, to $43.34, while Devon Energy advanced $3.20, or 4.7%, to $70.99.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold rose $2.91, or 3.6%, to $84.48.

Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.1 billion shares compared with 985 million shares Friday.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.2% after that country's economy grew for the second straight quarter, marking an end to the recession there.

Investors also drew confidence from the results of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which said it would maintain stimulus spending until a global economic recovery is at hand.

Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.6%, Germany's DAX index gained 2.1%, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.5%.