Cheap money, the lifeblood of Wall Street, is breathing new life into the stock bull market.

Investors in search of higher returns treated news that low interest rates are likely to stay at rock-bottom levels for the foreseeable future as a green light Monday to snap up riskier assets.

Blue chips in the Dow Jones industrial average benefited from the buying binge, soaring 203.52 points, or 2%, to 10,226.94. It marked a fresh 2009 high for the Dow, which is up 16.5% for the year and 56.2% from the March 9 low.

Despite a still struggling economy, stocks are getting a boost from the continuing slide in the value of the U.S. dollar vs. foreign currencies. The reason: Investors are using the cheaper dollar, which is at a 15-month low, to finance purchases of higher-yielding investments, such as oil, gold and emerging market plays, says Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at R.W. Baird. "When you have an excess of cheap money, it forces cash into riskier assets," says Bittles.

And the heavy cash inflows into these more risky asset classes are driving up prices and investors' returns.

Gold hit a fresh high Monday, closing up $5.70 at $1,100.80 an ounce. Oil rose $2 to $79.43 a barrel.

On Monday, investors were emboldened by a communiqu from the Group of 20 countries, which met over the weekend, saying they plan to keep stimulus money flowing to hobbled economies to boost the odds that the fledgling recovery is sustainable.

The news followed last week's statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it would keep short-term interest rates near 0% for an extended period to provide support for the economy. The Fed and G-20 news caused the value of the U.S. dollar to decline.