Oil, Gold Lift Markets

Stocks closed up today, buoyed by surging oil and gold prices. Oil hit $97 a barrel, and gold is at a 27-year high, Bloomberg reports. Energy and metals producers, including Exxon Mobil and Newmont Mining—the world's second-largest gold-mining company—led the rally. The Dow was up 117.54 to 13,660.94, the Nasdaq 30.00 to 2,825.18, and the S&P 500 18.10 to 1,520.27.

"Materials are feeding the global boom," says one manager. Meanwhile, the financial sector was buoyed by Goldman Sachs' denial that it's about to announce a big writedown. "The rumors seem to be getting more fanciful by the minute," said a spokesman. "We said there was no truth to them last week and the situation has not changed." (More stock market stories.)