Stocks are rallying during Monday trading, boosted by surprise increases in pending home sales and construction spending.

At 3:03 pm ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) is up 2.73% at 500.27, while the Dow is up 2.17% and the S&P 500 is up 2.61%.

Today the National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales for previously occupied homes rose 3.2% to 84.6. Also out today was data from the Commerce Department that showed construction spending rose 0.3% -- the best showing since last September.

Small-cap natural gas company Crosstex Energy Inc. (Nasdaq:XTXI) is up 64% this afternoon amid rising natural gas prices and a rally in energy and commodities sectors. Meanwhile, small-cap footwear manufacturer Crocs, Inc. (Nasdaq:CROX) is climbing nearly 40% higher today on heavy volume ahead of its earnings release on Thursday.

*****Last week, the Baltimore Sun laid off 61 employees. I heard that a couple reporters were actually called on the phone while they were sitting in the press box covering an Orioles game and told they were no longer Sun reporters.

It’s no secret that the newspaper biz has gotten tough. The Sun’s parent, the Tribune Company, filed for bankruptcy protection in December of 2008 after its chairman, Sam Zell, took the company private. Analysts knew he was loading too much debt on the company, but the decline in advertising revenues at newspaper . . .

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