Wall Street rallies as crude prices decline

NEW YORK, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street rallied Monday as oil prices fell back over investors' concerns about accelerating inflation.

Light, sweet crude oil fell 1.73 U.S. dollars to 124.23 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors also got some encouraging news about the credit crisis from London-based HSBC Holdings PLC, which said its first-quarter profits were up from a year ago.

The Dow rose 130.43, or 1.02 percent, to 12,876.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 15.30, or 1.10 percent, to 1,403.58, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 42.97, or 1.76 percent, to 2,488.49.

Hewlett Packard Co. fell 5.1 percent, to 46.64 U.S. dollars pershare after the technology company confirmed it is in talks with Electronic Data Systems Corp. about a possible acquisition.