Wall Street gains as oil slips

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Monday as oil prices closed lower for a sixth day, improving prospects for consumer and business spending.

The gains built on the market's best week since April. The fall in the price of oil boosted retailers' stocks before a batch of earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and others, as well as energy-sensitive airline shares.

Apple (AAPL.O) helped the Nasdaq outperform the Dow and the S&P 500 after Chief Executive Steve Jobs told the Wall Street Journal about heavy demand for iPhone software downloads.

Amazon.com (AMZN.O) jumped over 9 percent after Citigroup said the online retailer's Kindle book reader was on track to become one of the top electronics gifts of the 2008 holiday season.

U.S. crude oil futures fell as concerns about slowing global demand combined with a stronger dollar to knock down crude prices, despite the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

But oil prices ended off their lows for the session, which helped take the steam out of the stock market's rally in the last hour of trading.

"Every time oil falls, stocks rise at the moment. But oil is not going to keep going down every day with all that is going on geopolitically," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 48.03 points, or 0.41 percent, to 11,782.35, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 9.00 points, or 0.69 percent, to 1,305.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC jumped 25.85 points, or 1.07 percent, to 2,439.95.

Trading volume was low on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.26 billion shares changing hands, sharply below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 2.31 billion shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.

Bank shares also rose but cut gains in the last hour of trading after a Federal Reserve survey showed banks in the United States further tightened their lending standards and terms in all major loan categories, especially for consumer loans, in the past three months amid a weakening economic outlook.

Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) shares rose 2.4 percent to $173.56 on the Nasdaq after the company's CEO told The Wall Street Journal that iPhone users had downloaded more than 60 million programs for the device in the month since Apple opened an online software marketplace.

AT&T Inc (T.N), the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the United States, rose 2.8 percent to $31.84 on the NYSE. The stock was among those giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500. It also helped lift the Dow.

Amazon.com Inc soared 9.4 percent to $88.09 on Nasdaq after Citigroup's note.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) climbed 1.2 percent to $58.56 on the NYSE after Goldman Sachs wrote in a note to clients that the world's largest retailer may increase its profit forecast.

Shares of Ciena Corp (CIEN.O) advanced 6.8 percent to $18.17 on Nasdaq after Morgan Keegan raised its rating on the telecommunications equipment makers' shares.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by about 5 to 3 on the NYSE and more than 2 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)