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Stocks climbed to 6-month highs Monday after a report on housing sales came in much better than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 31 points, or 0.3%, to close at 11,164, its highest level since April. The S&P 500 (SPX) increased 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,185 and the Nasdaq (COMP) was up 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2,491.

All three indexes had been up nearly 1% earlier in the morning, after the release of a strong report on existing home sales. Gains receded slightly as the day continued, but most sectors were still strong — 23 of the 30 blue-chip Dow components were higher at the closing bell.

It marked the second time in the past week that the Dow has eclipsed its highest closing level this year, only to quickly pull back. It rose as high as 11,247.60 earlier Monday; the year’s highest close was 11,205.03 on April 26. The intraday peak for the year was 11,258, also on April 26.

In addition to the strong housing data, stocks have recently gotten a boost from strong corporate earnings and bets that Republicans will win control of the House next week — a shift that market participants believe will further lift stocks.

"President Obama has come out and said, ‘I’m pro-business,’" said Kenny Landgraf, principal and founder at Kenjol Capital Management. "But if you have to keep insisting something over and over, it starts to sound like it isn’t true."

Experts thought the election bets were already baked into the market, Landgraf said, but stocks have continued a somewhat steady climb throughout October.

Stocks ended mixed Friday, as investors balanced strong U.S. corporate earnings against currency tensions at the G-20 summit in South Korea.

Economy: Before Monday’s open, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that a federal agency review of foreclosure procedures at the nation’s largest mortgage servicers should be completed next month.

Bank stocks have been under pressure in recent weeks, though, as mortgage servicers reviewed documents after allegations of sloppy paperwork surfaced. Bank stocks felt the blow, with JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) down 1.7% and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) off 2.5% Monday.

In its October industry survey, the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) said Monday that employment conditions improved in the third quarter to the highest level since the start of the 2008-2009 recession. The survey also showed expectations for hiring over the next 6 months rose to the highest level since 2006.

The National Association of Realtors released a report that said existing home sales shot up 10% over the month, to an annual rate of 4.53 million in September. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com expected an increase to a rate of just 4.25 million.

Companies: After the bell, Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500) reported third-quarter earnings per share of 71 cents, stronger than the 69 cents per share expected by analysts. Shares of the company rose 0.2% in evening trading.

Office Depot (ODP, Fortune 500) announced that CEO Steve Odland, who has led the company since 2005, is resigning his post effective Nov. 1.

The office supplies retailer also said it expected earnings per share of 18 cents for the third quarter. Shares of Office Depot rose 3.5%.

World markets: European stocks closed higher Monday. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.2%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.5% and France’s CAC 40 gained less than 0.1%.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite rose 2.6%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 0.5%. Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.3%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar edged lower against the euro and British pound, and it fell against the yen to as much as ¥80.41 — a 15-year low.

Oil for December delivery gained 83 cents to settle at $82.52 a barrel.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $13.80 to settle at $1,338.90 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell slightly late in the afternoon, pushing the yield up to 2.57% from 2.56% on Friday.  

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Kokomo is going back to work.

A year and a half ago the fate of this car town, home to four Chrysler plants and a Delphi facility, was as uncertain as the American auto industry itself.

Now, thanks largely to the federal government, the town’s unemployment rate has gone from over 20% to under 14%.

Economists disagree over the real nationwide impact of the massive stimulus jolt orchestrated by President Obama. But here in Kokomo, the Recovery Act and Obama’s auto bailout have jolted Kokomo back to life — keeping big industry from fleeing and attracting newcomers as well.

"We wouldn’t be standing here," said Brian Harlow, a 32-year Chrysler veteran who grew up in Kokomo and now is based at the company’s headquarters outside Detroit. "It would have been a ghost town."

Chrysler, which had idled 3,500 hourly workers in Kokomo a year and a half ago, recently announced $350 million in new investments that will make the city the hub of North American manufacturing for its next-generation transmissions. All those people have been put back to work, and 700 others have been hired.

Auto parts manufacturer Delphi will use an $89 million stimulus grant to retain 100 manufacturing jobs and make 100 additional hires at a facility building parts for hybrid vehicles. (Kokomo then: A town on the brink)

And a Colorado solar company plans to use $300 million in stimulus funds to hire as many as 900 workers at an old Daimler auto plant south of town that will make products to export to Europe.

Even the downtown looks better. The mayor leveraged $800,000 in stimulus funds to help with a revitalization project that has netted 11 new stores since the start of the year. (Photo gallery: Kokomo today)

For sure, Kokomo still faces big challenges. The fate of a huge manufacturing facility Delphi recently sold to General Motors — and its 1,200 workers — is uncertain. And the housing market is in the toilet.

The mood in Kokomo is optimistic, if cautious.

"I wouldn’t say it’s done a 180, more like a 120," said Cliff Pitcher, an electrician and 20-year veteran at Chrysler who was decidedly more downbeat when CNNMoney last visited Kokomo. "They’re trying," he said of city officials. "I have to back them on that."

How they’re getting it done

From government managers to corporate execs, nearly every leader in Kokomo attributes the turnaround to the federal government’s willingness to step in.

"We would not be manufacturing in the United States if it wasn’t for the stimulus money," said Lisa Hardwick, Delphi’s plant manager, during a tour of the facility.

Delphi just opened a factory — just outside of town amid fields of corn and soy — making a component central to 21st century transportation: the brains of a hybrid car.

The product is a circuit board measuring about a square foot in size. The board tells a hybrid car when to switch from electric to gas power, converts the 600-volt battery juice to a more dashboard-friendly 14 volts and regulates other electronic functions within the engine.

Delphi has contracts to supply these boards to Allison Transmission, which makes parts for hybrid buses, as well as General Motors, Ford Motor and Coda Automotive. (See correction below.)

With Coda, the plan is to send the boards to China, put them in electric cars, and then ship the cars back for sale in the United States.

Hardwick said the company chose to expand in Kokomo for many of the same reasons executives from other companies cited: existing operations, generous tax incentives and a skilled workforce.

Back in town at a Chrysler plant, workers are churning out 1,600 transmissions a day. They’ll soon be making the company’s new 8-speed automatic transmission.

New workers are being hired at $14 an hour instead of the old $28, but that’s the case at auto plants across the country and reflects a world where factory work doesn’t command the wages it once did. (Video: A day on the auto line)

Back to the core

Downtown, it’s anything but ghostly.

Kokomo’s mayor, along with other city officials, used stimulus money to revamp the dying town center and lure shoppers back from the neon strip of chain stores and traffic lights that ring the city’s eastern side.

Flowers were added, curbs and sidewalks were expanded. Gone are the traffic lights that used to encourage motorists to speed though intersections in a race to make the next green light. They have been replaced with stop signs that bring traffic to a more pedestrian-friendly pace and allow drivers to look around the new downtown.

"I see a lot of people walking down here now, even at night," said Tashia Johnson-St.Clair, who used small business loans provided by the city to open a candied popcorn store called Sweet Poppins.

Across the street, 26-year-old Blake Kinder is using recycled antique wood and glass to open up an Irish bar in what was once a Chinese restaurant.

Kinder said the city’s designation of the downtown as a redevelopment zone allowed him to get a state liquor license, normally valued at over $100,000, for a mere $1,000.

"I’m not a big city guy," said Kinder, who nonetheless has lived in Las Vegas and London. "Kokomo is my comfort zone, and I believe I have something to give back to the town."

Mayor Greg Goodnight, who spent 13 years on the floor at a local steel factory before becoming the plant’s union leader, said the downtown’s revival is part of a larger plan to grow Kokomo’s economy by making it a place where people want to live.

"Good schools, more parks, low-cost government," Goodnight said. "This has to be a place that people want to call home."

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Coda Automotive as a Chinese company. 

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The Jacksonville Jaguars have announced the team will lift the blackout on the Monday night game against the Tennessee Titans — although enough tickets haven’t been sold to satisfy National Football League rules.

The National Football League requires that the Jaguars sell 50,957 tickets 72 hours before kickoff to avoid a television blackout. As of 3 p.m., there were around 1,100 tickets left to go, not including 385 tickets that were returned by the Titans which do not count against the blackout, said Macky Weaver, senior vice president of sales and marketing.

“If they don’t get sold, we’ll have to buy them,” Weaver said. “But I’m confident we’ll easily be there by Monday.”

The Jaguars have managed to avoid blackouts for their three home games so far this season. In 2009, only two home games were televised.

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Google Inc. will help fund a $5 billion offshore wind power project that will run from New Jersey to Virginia.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) said in a blog post Tuesday that the Atlantic Wind Connection project will stretch 350 miles from New Jersey to Virginia and will be able to connect 6,000 megawatts of offshore wind turbines.

That is the equivalent to 60 percent of the wind energy installed in the country last year, Google said, and enough to serve approximately 1.9 million households.

The project will connect offshore power hubs that will collect power from offshore wind farms. It will deliver the power via sub-sea cables, acting as a "superhighway for clean energy."

The project is led by the independent transmission company Trans-Elect. It is financed by Google, Good Energies and Marubeni Corp.

Google is investing 37.5 percent of the equity in the initial development stage, with the goal of obtaining all the necessary approvals to finance and begin constructing the line.

Google said the mid-Atlantic region was chosen as its "shallow waters make it easier to install turbines 10 to 15 miles offshore, meaning wind projects can take advantage of stronger winds and are virtually out of sight from land."

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Logitech on Wednesday showed off its forthcoming Revue set-top box, which will be one of the first consumer products to take advantage of Google’s new Internet television system.

The Logitech Revue was first announced at Google’s I/O conference in May, but few details were available at the time. On Wednesday, the device was listed for pre-order on Logitech’s website for $300. Dish Network will have advanced integration with Revue, and Dish subscribers will get a reduced rate of $179 for the box.

Pre-ordered Revues are scheduled to ship by the end of October, when the device will also be available in Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) stores.

Google TV, which the company announced in May, is Android-based software that gives televisions access to videos, apps and sites from the Web. Users can toggle between regular television channels and Internet content, using Google’s Chrome browser to navigate.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) partnered with companies including Logitech, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500), Sony (SNE) and Adobe (ADBE) for its Google TV project. Logitech’s device will launch with pre-installed apps from Netflix, the NBA, Twitter, CNBC, Napster and Pandora.

But Logitech hopes that’s just the start: "With a huge community of developers creating apps for the upcoming Android Market, there’s no telling what your TV will be able to do," the company touts on its website.

Noticeably absent is Hulu.com. Google is reportedly still in talks with the video streaming site, and hopes to reach a deal soon.

Accessories: Logitech also announced add-ons and apps for the Revue box, which comes with a keyboard controller that features a touch pad.

The 6-inch Mini Controller, for $130, offers the same controls in a smaller size. Controller apps will be available for the iPhone, iPad and Android. A $150 TV Cam uses free software to make HD video calls.

Logitech faces immediate competition in the Google TV market. Sony is holding a press event next week to unveil what it calls "the world’s first Internet Television." That product — an HDTV with Google TV built in — was also first mentioned at the Google I/O conference in May.

The Google TV website says the service will be "on sale this fall," points visitors to both the Sony Internet TV site and the Logitech Revue site.

Other companies are also gunning for the TV-meets-Internet market. Last month, Apple announced the second generation of its $99 Apple TV receiver. Meanwhile, Roku’s XDS boxes offer selected Internet video content — but no Web browsing — for as little as $59.  

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New figures from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors indicate that pending home and condo sales in Massachusetts are down for the fifth month in a row.

A pending sale indicates that the buyer and seller have agreed on the terms and signed a purchase and sale agreement, but the sale has not yet closed. Pending sales are considered an indicator of where the market is headed, because data on closed sales are several weeks old by the time they're recorded payday advance.

MAR reports that pending sales of single-family homes in September 2010 were down 19 percent from September 2009, while sales of condos were down 27 percent.

MAR blames the expiration of a federal tax credit for homebuyers, as well as ongoing concerns about the economy and unemployment, for the declines.

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The U.S. Navy has awarded Niking Corp. a $6.1 million contract to extend the rifle range at the Puuloa Training Facility in Ewa Beach.

The contract calls for Wahiawa-based Niking to construct a 400-yard extension to the existing 600-yard rifle range. The work also will include the installation of two 925-foot side-containment structures.

The project will provide a raised-earth firing line with 12 firing lanes from 700 to 1,000 yards long. The work is to be completed by August.

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Treasury yields recovered losses Friday, gaining momentum as stocks rallied and a better-than-expected manufacturing report eased economic jitters.

What yields are doing: The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose to 2.6% from 2.55% late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The yield on the 30-year bond edged up to 3.79% from 3.73%, and the 5-year note climbed to 1.35% from 1.31%. The 2-year note’s yield ticked up to 0.45% from 0.42% on Thursday.

What’s moving the market: Durable goods orders, a measure of manufacturing, slipped 1.3% in August after falling 0.7% in July, the government reported Friday.

While that was only slightly better than the 1.4% drop economists had forecast, the report also showed that orders excluding transportation climbed 2%, beating forecasts of a slight 0.6% rise.

Stocks spiked following the report, reducing the appeal of safe haven Treasurys and driving yields higher.

"We’re seeing some evidence beginning to emerge that the economy may have actually stopped falling and that we’re beginning to level off at a very modest growth rate," said Peter Cardillo, a chief market strategist at Avalon Partners.

The evidence was much needed because earlier this week the Federal Reserve expressed concern about deflation and a slowing recovery, saying that it is willing to take additional steps to support the economy if necessary payday loans guaranteed no fax.

Those steps could include buying Treasurys outright — a practice known as quantitative easing — if the economic recovery stalls. That goes a step further than the central bank’s previously announced plan to reinvest proceeds from its portfolio into Treasurys.

"They didn’t say they were going to actually do it, they said they were thinking about it," said Cardillo. "So now the question is do they pull the trigger and if so, when do they pull the trigger?"

To gauge when — and if — the trigger will be pulled, traders will be scrutinizing economic data released in the weeks leading up to the Fed’s next policy meeting, which begins Nov. 2.

"If economic numbers continue to come in a little better, the Fed may stay on the sidelines longer," said Cardillo. "And if it does stay on the sidelines, we could see a sell-off in Treasurys and see yields pop up."  

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