NEW YORK, July 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Wall Street stocks traded higher Monday as investors cheered the declining oil prices and a number of corporate merger deals.

    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 70.58 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,519.72 points. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 22.55 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,135.43 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 7.58 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,219.72 points.

    On Monday, crude oil prices fell for a third day in New York, while the August Brent oil futures also ended lower in London. News of corporate deals in telecom, banking and pharmaceuticals further boosted stocks. Stock investors saw merger deals as a signthat companies felt secured about the future.

    In company news, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose 1.66 dollars to 107.31 dollars after a media report said the investment bank and Germany's Allianz were in talks to buy at least 1 billion-dollar stake in one of China's largest state-owned commercial banks.

    Sprint Corp. climbed 7 cents to 25.54 dollars after saying it would buy US Unwired Inc. for 1.3 billion dollars, and US Unwired added 4 cents to 6.20 dollars on the news.

    Procter & Gamble Co. rose 94 cents to 53.90 dollars and DuPont Co. gained 65 cents to 44.15 dollars after brokerage firms upgraded their stock ratings.

    Morgan Stanley advanced 45 cents to 53.57 dollars after the company announced its Co-President Zoe Cruz was appointed acting president while Co-President Stephen S Crawford resigned

    On the NYSE, advancing stocks outnumbered decliners about 2 to 1, and the trading volume was 1.40 billion shares.

    In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.2072 dollars from 1.1936, and the British pound climbed to 1.7575 dollars from 1.7333 late Friday. The dollar was traded at 111.88 yen, down from 112.23, 1.2871 Swiss francs, down from 1.3028, and 1.2140 Canadiandollars, down from 1.2198 late Friday. Enditem