US stocks surged to fresh 16-month highs on Monday after mobile phone maker Motorola Inc. delivered better-than-expected results and an upbeat sales forecast, reinforcing investors' faith that corporate America will deliver strong earnings reports this week.

"The fail-safe for this market is to recognize that the economic recovery is continuing and it is especially beneficial to profits," said Milton Ezrati, senior economic strategist at money manager Lord Abbett & Co. "Absent other news, or something to worry about, it rises."

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.18 points, or 0.98 percent, to 9,769.86. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.23 points, or 0.89 percent, at 1,047.29. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index added 20.01 points, or 1.04 percent, at 1,935.32.

That marked fresh 16-month highs for the Dow and S&P 500, and a 19-month high for the Nasdaq.

Motorola was the New York Stock Exchange's most heavily traded stock, up 15 cents, or 1.09 percent, to $13.94 after the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker posted quarterly profit twice Wall Street estimates and forecast stronger-than-expected sales in its current fourth quarter.

Manufacturing conglomerate Honeywell International Inc. led the Dow in gains, up $1.22, or 4.4 percent, to $28.72 after its late Friday announcement that it would buy Canada's Silent Witness Enterprises Ltd., a video monitoring technology firm.

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