Stocks spiked higher Monday as Wall Street joined overseas markets in riding a wave of merger news to bounce back from a losing week. The Dow Jones industrials rose 115 points.

The buyout news, particularly the possibility of an enormous deal that would unite Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV with British bank Barclays PLC, propelled stocks higher as investors theorized that companies remain upbeat about the economy if they're willing to cut new deals.

The Dow rose 115.76, or 0.96 percent, to 12,226.17, its biggest one-day gain since March 6, when the index climbed more than 150 points.

Broader stock indicators also rose sharply. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 15.11, or 1.09 percent, to 1,402.06, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 21.75, or 0.92 percent, to 2,394.41.

Another deal announced Monday was oil field-services company Hercules Offshore Inc.'s agreement to buy drilling contractor Todco for $2.3 billion in cash. Todco rose $6.46, or 19.7 percent, to $39.24, and Hercules fell $1.25, or 4.7 percent, to $25.32.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.67 billion shares — down from 3.31 billion shares on Friday, when contract expirations elevated trading volumes.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 8.28, or 1.06 percent, to 787.05.

Light, sweet crude fell 52 cents to $56.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid concerns that demand could slump.