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new york — Stocks rose for the third straight day on Monday as speculation Washington Mutual Inc. will get a $5 billion investment overshadowed concern that slowing economic growth will hurt technology company earnings.

Washington Mutual rallied the most in 25 years as the largest U.S. savings and loan negotiated with private equity firms for a cash infusion. Exxon Mobil Corp. gained as crude oil jumped above $109 a barrel. Speculation that memory chip demand will weaken and Alcoa Inc. would report profit below forecasts pared a 124-point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 2.14 to 1,372.54. The Dow added 3.01 to 12,612.43. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 6.15 to 2,364.83.

Washington Mutual gained $2.98, or 29 percent, to $13.15. Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, gained 52 cents to $24.60. Bank of America Corp., the second-largest, added 9 cents to $39.50.
Alcoa Inc., the world’s third-largest aluminum producer, fell $1.56, or 4 percent, to $37.44 on speculation the company’s first-quarter earnings would trail analysts’ estimates. After the close of trading, Alcoa posted profit, excluding some items, of 44 cents a share, less than the 50-cent average estimate of 14 projections compiled by Bloomberg.

Exxon added 18 cents to $88.92 and Chevron Corp., the second-biggest, gained 22 cents to $88.27. Dillard’s Inc. dropped $1.44, or 6.5 percent, to $20.59, the second-steepest decline in the S&P 500. Family Dollar Stores Inc. lost 62 cents, or 3 percent, to $19.76.

Tesoro Corp. had the steepest fall in the S&P 500, dropping $2.06 to $29.19 cash advance flexible payments cash advance loans. Credit Suisse analyst Mark Flannery lowered his rating on the largest refiner in the Western U.S. to "neutral" from "outperform."

Broadcom Corp., the maker of chips for mobile-phone manufacturers such as Nokia Oyj, dropped 73 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $20.68.

U.S. Steel Corp. gained $3.02 to $143.72 after being upgraded to "overweight" from "equal-weight" at Morgan Stanley, which said increasing steel prices will boost earnings. The brokerage also rated Steel Dynamics Inc., the fourth-largest U.S.-based steel producer by market value, as "overweight" in new coverage, while downgrading Nucor Corp. to "equal-weight" from "overweight." Steel Dynamics rose $1.45 to $37.38. Nucor added 74 cents to $71.28.

General Motors Corp. added 43 cents to $21.01, and Ford Motor Corp. rose 24 cents to $6.73.

Apple Inc. added $2.81 to $155.89. The maker of the iPod media player was raised to "overweight" from "market weight" at Thomas Weisel Partners. The shares were also rated "overweight" in new coverage by Atlantic Equities LLP.

Yahoo Inc., the Internet company that snubbed Microsoft Corp.’s $44.6 billion takeover bid, fell 66 cents to $27.70 after the world’s largest software maker threatened to cut its bid if directors fail to give in soon. Microsoft was unchanged at $29.16.

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