The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent shortly after the market opened. It climbed in early trading to within a half-point of its all-time high, set in October 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq composite 0.5 percent.

International lenders agreed early Monday to release 10 billion euros of emergency rescue funds for Cyprus. The European Central Bank will continue to support the nation's foundering banks. In exchange, Cyprus will shrink its banking industry, cut its budget, implement economic reforms and privatize some state assets. The measures will result in heavy losses for its banks' bondholders and people with large deposits in banking accounts.

The deal to save Cyprus' banks erased a crucial source of anxiety for investors, who have traded for more than three years under the cloud of a debt crisis in Europe. The fear is that a heavily indebted country will default on its financial obligations and be forced to exit the shared currency. That could cause the euro zone to unravel, deepening the recession there and roiling international financial markets.