NEW YORK, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Health-care stocks lifted Wall Street on Monday as the landmark healthcare reform bill moving toward the finish line.

    On Monday morning, Senate Democratic secured the key vote and cleared critical hurdle on path toward passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

    The health-care sector was also lifted after the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA announced plans to buy health products company Chattem Inc. for 1.9 billion U.S. dollars.

    Shares of the U.S. largest aluminum maker Alcoa Inc jumped 7.89percent after it announced an 11-billion-U.S. dollar joint venture in Saudi Arabia and Morgan Stanley's upgrade of the stock to "Buy" based on a forecast of higher aluminum prices..

    An upgrade of chip maker Intel Corp. helped boost technology stocks. Intel rose 46 cents, or 2.34 percent, to 20.09 dollars per share.

    Shares of Ford Motor Co. retreated 0.1 percent after the company offered new buyout packages to all of its 41,000 U.S. hourly workers as it tries to further reduce its factory work force.

    Retail stocks also gained as investors were optimistic about the rest of the holiday shopping season even after a heavy snowstorm hit the East Coast over the weekend.

    Investors expect light volumes and volatile trading in this Christmas holiday-shortened week, as most of the traders tend not to place big bets during the last two weeks of the year.

    However, traditionally the market has been strong during the last trading days of the year.

    The Dow Jones industrial average was up 85.25 points, or 0.83 percent, to 10,414.14. Broader indexes also advanced. The Standard& Poor's 500 index rose 11.58, or 1.05 percent, to 1,115.89 and the Nasdaq added 25.97, or 1.17 percent to 2,237.66.