U.S. stocks rose Monday following encouraging sales results from McDonald's and as technology companies Cisco Systems and International Business Machines benefited from rival Hewlett-Packard's moment of weakness.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 45.19 points, or 0.42%, to 10698.75, its highest close since May 13. McDonald's was among the measure's best performers with a gain of 1.18, or 1.6%, to 72.92. The fast-food giant posted a 7% increase in global same store sales for July, its highest monthly gain since January 2009.

Cisco was also strong, up 70 cents, or 2.9%, to 24.77, and IBM climbed 1.86, or 1.4%, to 132, as investors digested the surprising departure of rival H-P's chief executive.

H-P fell to the bottom of the Dow with a tumble of 3.70, or 8%, to 42.60, as the sudden void of an executive perceived as bringing a period of consistency and outperformance to the technology giant rattled Wall Street. Analysts said the uncertainty makes H-P worth less in the near term.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 17.22, or 0.75%, to 2305.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 6.15, or 0.55%, to 1127.79.

The stock gains came as investors mulled over last week's disappointing economic data, punctuated by a weak employment report on Friday, and grew cautiously hopeful that it might make the Federal Reserve more open to stimulus measures during the central bank's Tuesday meeting.

European market

European shares advanced for the first time in three sessions Monday, with commodity sector firms leading a broad based advance as positive economic data helped boost sentiment.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1.4%, or 3.55 points, to close at 262.26. Oil producers were among the strongest performers, with Total rising 2% and Royal Dutch Shell gaining 1.5%. Shares of BP PLC advanced 1.7% after the oil giant said the so-called static kill and cementing procedures on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico have been successful.

Data from Europe continue to show economic progress, with Germany's seasonally adjusted exports up 3.8% in June. Banks were higher Monday, with a 2.2% gain for BNP Paribas helping the French CAC-40 index advance 1.7% to close at 3,777.37. Of the other benchmarks, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 1.5% to end at 5,410.52, and the German DAX index climbed 1.5% to settle at 6,351.60.

Asian market

Asian markets ended mostly higher Monday, with Chinese metal and cement shares gaining as the government moved to reduce overcapacity, but stocks in Tokyo losing ground on concerns about the yen's recent strength and weak U.S. employment trends.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 0.6%, China's Shanghai Composite tacked on 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi added 0.4%.

The broad regional advance came despite a weak opening for some markets in the wake of a decline Friday on Wall Street, when data showed July nonfarm payrolls fell by 131,000 and the jobless rate remained at 9.5%. Chinese industrial plays rallied after the government said Sunday it had ordered 2,087 companies in 18 sectors to shut down obsolete plants in a decision aimed at streamlining industries that were polluting, energy intensive and had excess capacity.

Anhui Conch Cement advanced 1.8% and Xinyu Iron & Steel Co. gained 1.4% in Shanghai, while Xinjiang Tianshan Cement added 0.4% and Yunnan Copper climbed 2.9% in Shenzhen.

Commodities and metals

Tin and nickel on the London Metal Exchange rallied to fresh highs Monday, while other metals gave back early gains in a mixed, quiet trading session. The metals found few cues from other markets, which traded cautiously ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting Tuesday.

Nickel finished strongly after rallying close to a three month high on what traders said was technical buying, since technical indicators appear to be bullish.

Tin climbed towards a two year high on tightening supplies, analysts said. Inventories are near a 14 month low and more than 10% of these inventories are been booked for future withdrawal.

Support for the other metals initially came from news that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told 2,087 corporations to shut outdated output capacity before the end of September.

The companies, from the steel, coking, aluminum, copper, zinc, cement and other sectors, include 143 base metal businesses and 175 steel-makers, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Monday.

Crude futures settled higher Monday, the first rise in four trading days, on the eve of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled 78 cents, or 1%, higher at $81.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, bouncing back from a 1.6% drop Friday. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled 83 cents higher at $80.99 a barrel.

Oil prices held above $81 for most of the session as traders await signals on whether the Fed will adopt new measures to stimulate the U.S. economy.

A weak employment report Friday renewed fears about the slowing recovery, a worrying sign for oil markets concerned that supplies will remain at high levels without a growing economy to spur demand.

But the report has ignited speculation that the Fed, during its meeting Tuesday, could revive its purchases of Treasury bonds or mortgage backed securities to stimulate growth.

Gold futures ended a generally steady session a bit on the downside Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate and policy announcement.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, fell $2.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,202.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.