A very big day with the Dow jumping 175 points right out the gate and then steadily rising throughout the day to close with a whopping 241 point gain.  What happened?  Warren Buffett is what with what is being characterized as the biggest deal in history as Berkshire Hathaway buys Precision Castparts for 32 billion dollars.  This was just one more major M&A deal that has characterized 2015 and buoyed market optimism since M&A activity is widely considered a positive sign that corporate America is upbeat about the future of the economy. Also boosting optimism was the latest news from Greece that a multibillion-euro bailout deal could be had as soon as tomorrow and added hopes that Beijing could be pumping additional stimulus into the ailing Chinese economy due to recent weak data.  So it was one of the biggest and best days we've seen in a very long time, but you wouldn't know it by the volume which, at 6.5 billion shares, was even a little bit below average.  But major major news came from Google after the bell so we may see more enthusiasm tomorrow.

Markets | Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:46pm EDT

Wall St. jumps with energy, materials; Berkshire deal a boost

BY CAROLINE VALETKEVITCH

DJ:    17,615.17  +241.79    NAS:      5,101.80  +58.26       S&P:      2,104.18  +26.61

REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID

U.S. stocks climbed on Monday, giving the S&P 500 its biggest gain since May as indexes bounced back sharply from last week's losses, buoyed by gains in commodity-related shares and optimism over Warren Buffett's latest deal.

Copper rebounded from six-year lows while oil prices also rallied, helping push the S&P 500energy index .SPNY up 3.1 percent and the materials index .SPLRCM up 2.5 percent.

Disappointing economic data in China boosted hopes for additional stimulus from Beijing, lifting Chinese stocks. Adding to investor optimism, Greece and international creditors could wrap up a multibillion-euro bailout accord by Tuesday.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) said it would buy Precision Castparts (PCP.N) in a deal valuing the company at $32.3 billion. Precision Castparts' shares jumped as much as 19.1 percent to $230.92, while Berkshire Class B shares dipped 0.1 percent to $143.42.

"We've had a whole lot of M&A throughout the year, and that's positive because it means businesses are upbeat on the prospects for the economy," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 241.79 points, or 1.39 percent, to 17,615.17, theS&P 500 .SPX gained 26.61 points, or 1.28 percent, to 2,104.18 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 58.25 points, or 1.16 percent, to 5,101.80.

The S&P 500 registered its biggest daily percentage gain since May 8.

On Friday, the Dow closed down for the seventh straight day after solid July jobs data pried the door open a little wider for a rate hike in September.

With U.S. interest rates near zero for nearly a decade, debt has been cheap. But with the Federal Reserve widely expected to hike rates later this year, merger and acquisition activity has increased.

July was the seventh-strongest month for global deal activity since 1980. Through July, cross-border M&A activity totaled $913.5 billion, up 23 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data.

In other deal news, ammonia maker CVR Partners' (UAN.N) deal to buy Rentech Nitrogen Partners (RNF.N) for about $533 million sent Rentech soaring 28.6 percent to $13.25. CVR shares were down 2.9 percent at $10.38.

Twitter (TWTR.N) shares jumped 9.1 percent to $29.50 after CEO Jack Dorsey joined other insiders in buying more shares, while the company also clinched a multiyear partnership with the National Football League.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,329 to 734, for a 3.17-to-1 ratio on the upside. On the Nasdaq, 1,937 issues rose and 856 fell for a 2.26-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index posted 35 new 52-week highs and three new lows; theNasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 85 new lows.

About 6.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the daily average of 7.0 billion for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.