Stocks rose on Monday as data showed the services sector expanded after about a year of contraction and on positive broker comments on big bank stocks.

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index for September came in at 50.9, compared with 48.4 in August, returning to growth after more than a year.

Goldman Sachs raised its view of the U.S. large-cap bank sector to attractive from neutral. The brokerage boosted Wells Fargo & Co to buy, sparking a 5.3 percent jump to $27.66. The KBW bank index <.BKX> and the S&P financial index <.GSPF> each rose more than 2 percent.

Coming into the session, we're pretty oversold (in the stock market) after the pullback we had last week, but (we're) getting help from the financial group after the upgrades we saw, said Steve Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The data is keeping the market momentum intact.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 51.01 points, or 0.54 percent, to 9,538.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 8.28 points, or 0.81 percent, to 1,033.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 16.84 points, or 0.82 percent, to 2,064.95.

After rallying nearly 60 percent from March through late September, the benchmark S&P 500 index <.SPX> capped a four-day losing streak on Friday. It has fallen more than 4 percent from its peak, weighed by concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc shares soared 18 percent to $9.04 after the Wall Street Journal reported the data storage equipment maker has put itself on the selling block, citing people familiar with the matter.

Prudential Financial Inc

shares gained 4.2 percent to $48.69 after the company said it is exploring a sale of its investment and fund management businesses in South Korea. The deal could fetch about $850 million.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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