Stocks surged on the latest positive news out of Europe on Monday, the fourth sharp increase in the last five days.

It's a dramatic turnaround from last Tuesday, when the S&P 500 index nearly fell enough to meet the definition of a bear market. Since then the widely used index has soared 8.7 percent.

Indexes soared in the U.S. and Europe after French and German leaders promised to strengthen European banks. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 330.06 points, its largest one-day jump since Aug. 11, to close at 11,433.18.

Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. rose 6.4 percent, the most of the 30 companies that make up the index.

The Dow is up 7.3 percent since last Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 39.43 or 3.4 percent, to 1,194.89. The Nasdaq composite index rose 86.70, or 3.4 percent, to 2,566.05. AP

The Limited to open store Oct. 21 at Northlake Mall

Women's clothing retailer The Limited is opening its fourth Charlotte-area location this month, with a store being prepped at Northlake Mall.

A grand opening is set for the weekend starting Oct. 21. The events will include a sale, a raffle and a donation to Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte, and The Limited CEO Linda Heasley is expected to attend.

The store is 4,500 square feet, with features such as wood floors, more dressing rooms, more cash registers, and an "e-bar" with access to the company's website to place online orders in-store.

The Limited already has stores open at SouthPark, Carolina Place and Concord Mills, and has 230 stores nationwide. The Columbus, Ohio-based chain is owned by Sun Capital Partners Inc., a private equity and leveraged buyout firm.

Ely Portillo

Facebook soon to launch iPad-friendly application

Facebook Inc. is unveiling an application for iPad, bringing a version of the world's most popular social-networking service tailored to Apple Inc.'s best-selling tablet computer for the first time.

The new iPad app will let users chat with friends from the device and play games on Facebook in full-screen mode, the company said.

Users have been clamoring for an iPad- friendly version of Facebook since the device went on sale in April 2010.

Facebook, which has more than 800 million users, is introducing the Facebook app as part of a push to encourage software developers to work with its platform on a range of mobile devices.

Bloomberg

O2 Energies, Strata Solar unveil farm in Mount Airy

Cornelius-based O2 Energies and Strata Solar of Chapel Hill commissioned a 1.2-megawatt solar farm Monday in Mount Airy, the basis of television's fictional Mayberry.

The six-acre installation, including more than 5,000 modules, surrounds the town's wastewater treatment plant. It is Surry County's first large solar installation.

ElectriCities of North Carolina and Duke Energy will buy the electricity and renewable energy credits, commodities that represent energy generation. The installation has the capacity to offset the electric use of about 150 homes, the companies said.

O2 Energies develops and owns ground-mounted solar systems. Strata Solar does engineering, procurement and construction work.

Bruce Henderson