Stocks advanced on Monday on a sign of renewed interest in initial public offerings and a weaker U.S. dollar that drove commodities prices higher, boosting energy and materials shares.

Blackstone Group rose 6.5 percent to $15.81 on a report the private equity firm is planning to list up to eight of its portfolio companies, a possible sign of healthier capital markets.

The U.S. dollar fell 0.4 percent against a basket of major currencies <.DXY>, continuing its recent weakness that has helped bolster U.S. stocks by lifting commodity prices and increasing the dollar value of repatriated export earnings of U.S. companies.

Assistance for stocks could also come from the magnet of Dow 10,000 and the expected ongoing stream of favorable corporate earnings, said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 38.54 points, or 0.39 percent, at 9,903.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 6.10 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,077.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 9.46 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,148.74.

On Nasdaq, Google Inc rose 1.8 percent to $525.67 after several analysts raised their price targets on the shares ahead of Google's third-quarter results due this week.

Black & Decker Corp jumped 6.6 percent to $50.36 as the power tools maker raised its third-quarter earnings outlook ahead of series of blue chip earnings reports this week.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc gained 6.9 percent to $28.76 after the company agreed to buy Proteolix for an upfront cash payment of $276 million.

Lazard Ltd fell 1.62 percent to $41.20, however, after it said Bruce Wasserstein, its chairman and chief executive, had been hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat.

Investors are closely eyeing several earnings due out in the week including top banks -- JPMorgan Chase & Co on Wednesday, Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs Group on Thursday and Bank of America Corp on Friday.

Crude oil traded higher above $73 a barrel, pushing commodity and energy companies such as Newmont Mining Corp and ConocoPhillips up more than 1 percent.

U.S. stocks rose every day last week in their best weekly run in three months, and Dow industrials reached a new 2009 closing high on Friday.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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