The Dow soared 185 points to 10,006, surviving a late afternoon scare to ride into the history books, while The Nasdaq climbed 3 percent to 2,492, a 73-point jump.

Tech Data Corp. led a surge in distributor stocks, vaulting $2.63 to $19.13, surging 16 percent the day before its scheduled fourth-quarter earnings conference call. Shares of Ingram Micro Inc. climbed $1.19 to $19.50 after revealing plans to provide logistics, assembly and services for Compaq Computer Corp.'s PartnerDirect Program. The computer vendor's shares climbed 31 cents to $31.50.

Among other distributors, CHS Electronics Inc. continued to decline, losing 25 cents to $3.06; MicroAge Inc. dropped 19 cents to $5.31; and Bell Microproducts Inc. rose 13 cents to $6.

Several VARs also broke out of a yearlong depression Monday. En Pointe Technologies Inc. was up $1.63 to $7.94, a 26 percent climb; Cambridge Technology Partners Inc. rose $1.25 to $12.19; and Inacom Corp. climbed 63 cents to $7.81.

CompuCom Systems Inc. slipped 6 cents to $3.69 and Pomeroy Computer Resources Inc. declined 19 cents to $12.94.

Overall, it was a big Monday for tech stocks. Shares of Platinum Technology International Inc. skyrocketed $14.19 to $24.06, a 144 percent increase, after Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) agreed to acquire the software company in a deal valued at $3.5 billion. CA's shares bolted $3.06 to $37.

Sun Microsystems Inc. soared $8 to $124.50, Intel Corp. climbed $4.75 to $121.44 and Microsoft Corp. was up $3.06 to $92.13.