Wall Street’s buying binge continued on Monday as the Dow rallied for the sixth-straight day and closed at fresh six-month highs thanks to the apparent rescue of CIT Group, a slew of earnings beats and new bullish predictions from Goldman Sachs.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 104.21 points, or 1.19%, to 8848.15, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 10.75 points, or 1.14%, to 951.13 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 22.68 points, or 1.2%, to 1909.29. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 added 4.74 points, or 0.68%, to 700.94.

Lifted by renewed economic optimism and a solid opening act to earnings season, the Dow has now surged 702 points in just six trading days, recouping all of its month-long slump. The rally has been even more impressive on the Nasdaq Composite, which is in the midst of its first nine-day win streak in exactly 11 years.

“I think it’s pretty clear we’ve turned the corner in this crisis. We’re getting rather good news almost every day,” Jim Paulsen of Wells Capital Management told FOX Business, pointing to improvements in markets for bonds, stocks and commodities.

Monday's rally began with reports of a private-sector rescue for teetering commercial lender CIT Group (CIT) and only strengthened with a prediction from Goldman Sachs for the S&P 500 to surge to 1060 and better-than-expected quarterly results from toymaker Hasbro (HAS), oil giant Halliburton (HAL) and regional lender M&T Bank (MTB).

“The investor mentality is certainly returning a little bit. When you have a week that is up six-plus percent, people will start noticing,” said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities.

The Dow, which closed at its highest level since Jan. 6 and is in the midst of its longest win streak since April 2007, was led by Caterpillar (CAT), Disney (DIS) and Alcoa (AA). The index's biggest percentage losers were Bank of America (BAC) and Proctor & Gamble (PG). 

“Everyone painted such a doom-and-gloom scenario that barring any real blow-up to the downside, I think we’re going to continue this trend upward,” NSYE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “As long as the bellwethers show positive earnings, regardless of what happens to the smaller stocks, the bellwethers are going to carry the markets further north.”

Yet the rally has lacked the heavy volume that traders use to indicate conviction and many traders still harbor concerns about earnings, banks and the broader economy.

“There’s tons of news that says this over but I continue to see a dominance of doubt. I think it has to do with the severity of the crisis," said Paulsen. "It’s going to take a lot of good news to convert some of these bears to bulls. But I do think that will come."

Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend as The Wall Street Journal reported CIT Group is nearing a final-hour deal to secure $3 billion from bondholders and avoid a bankruptcy filing. Shares of CIT nearly doubled on the news after plunging to pennies last week when the company failed to receive a government rescue.

Even though it’s hardly a household name like Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC), CIT Group plays a key role as one of the largest U.S. small business lenders. The potential private-sector rescue suggests private capital is still available and represents a shift from the slew of rescues that became the norm last year.

“I think it’s great for the overall market. It proves that the private capital markets, without the government, are [being] allowed to function. The government served its purpose trying to unfreeze the credit markets last year. It’s starting to work,” NYSE trader Ben Willis of VDM Institutional Brokerage told FOX Business.

Wall Street also received a boost Monday from Goldman, which raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 from 940 to 1060 to reflect a prediction for a “sustained rally” of 13% during the second-half.

Bolstering that prediction, the markets received new signs of improvement on the economic front as the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators improved for the third-straight month in June, rising 0.7%. 

Caterpillar helped lead a big rally in the construction and farm machinery sector as the Dow component jumped on an upgrade to “buy” from Bank of America. The upgrade, coming a day before Caterpillar is set to report results, lifted Cummins (CMI) and Manitowoc (MTW).

In the commodity markets, crude oil built on last week's 6% rally. Closing in the green for the fourth-straight day, crude climbed 42 cents a barrel, or 0.66%, to $63.98 -- its highest level since July 6. 

Corporate Movers

Wyeth (WYE) shareholders overwhelmingly signed off on the drug maker’s $68 billion deal to be acquired by rival Pfizer (PFE).

Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) surged more than 200% to new 52-week highs after the drug maker’s experimental lupus drug succeeded in a late-stage study, giving it a chance to become the first new lupus drug in 50 years. The results showed Benlysta demonstrated a significant improvement in the symptoms of the disease compared to a placebo.

Hasbro (HAS) beat the Street with a 4.8% increase in second-quarter earnings to 26 cents per share. The toy maker’s gross margin fell to 59.7% but its sales grew 1%. Hasbro also said its joint venture television network with Discovery (DISCA) will cost less than previously expected.

Halliburton (HAL) suffered a better-than-expected 47% dive in quarterly profit to 30 cents per share. The oil services giant’s quarterly revenue of $3.49 billion also topped estimates.

Ruby Tuesday (RT) closed sharply higher even after the restaurant operator unveiled plans to sell 10 million shares in a move that will dilute current shareholders by nearly 20%. The company said it plans to use the new funds to pay down debt. 

M&T Bank (MTB) suffered a 75% plunge in quarterly profit on swelling credit losses but the company’s adjusted results topped Wall Street’s expectations. The mid-Atlantic regional bank posted a quarterly profit of 79 cents per share excluding items, well above the 47 cents analysts had been expecting.

Charles Schwab (SCHW) denied accusations from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that the company committed civil fraud through its marketing and sale of auction rate securities. According to the Journal, Cuomo believes emails and testimony show Schwab’s brokers didn’t understand what they were selling and failed to tell clients the market for these short-term debt instruments was collapsing.

Johnson Controls (JCI) posted a 63% tumble in quarterly income but the auto-parts and heating-systems maker’s results beat the Street and broke a string of quarterly losses.

Harman International Industries (HAR) lost nearly one-fifth of its market cap after it threw cold water on recent M&A speculation by saying it has not received a takeover bid from a private investment group. Harman’s shares had surged more than 30% in pre-market action on a report that Arabian Peninsula Group was about to make a $49.50-a-share offer for the maker of high-end audio equipment such as Infinity-brand speakers.

Harley-Davidson (HOG) saw its shares jump after Goldman Sachs removed the motorcycle manufacturer from its Americas sell list and upgraded it to “neutral” from “sell.”

Global Markets

European stocks also closed in the green for the sixth-straight day. London's FTSE 100 gained 1.25% to 4443.62, France's CAC 40 rallied 1.63% to 3270.94 and Germany's DAX advanced 1.04% to 5030.15. 

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 3.7% to 19502.37 and China's Shanghai Composite rose 2.4% to 3266.92. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.