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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/video-dollar-climbs-yuan-slides-052935884.html

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, briefly sending the Nasdaq Composite Index above 5,000 for the first time in 15 years, while Treasuries slumped and the dollar advanced as gains in consumer purchases signaled strength in the biggest part of the economy.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 0.3 percent at 12:55 p.m. in New York, led by consumer-discretionary companies. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated 0.2 percent. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose eight basis points to 2.07 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.3 percent, while oil in New York climbed 1.4 percent after erasing losses. The yuan fell to a two-year low as China cut interest rates.

The Nasdaq briefly surpassed a level it has exceeded on only seven other days, all of them in March 2000. Consumer purchases adjusted for inflation rose 0.3 percent in January. The Federal Reserve is assessing inflation and employment levels to determine the timing for lifting borrowing costs. Euro-area consumer prices fell less than forecast last month, offering some relief to the region's central bank as it prepares to put its bond-buying program into action.

“With February as strong as it was, to see some follow-through here is encouraging,” Walter Todd, chief investment officer for Greenwood, South Carolina-based Greenwood Capital, said by phone. “We got some decent data this morning and with numbers out of Europe better than expected and the Chinese central bank cutting rates over the weekend, it's a combination of those things that have us moving higher.”