Wall Street and the US economy got early St. Valentine’s Day gifts yesterday.

Stocks broke through the 12,000-mark in the Dow Jones industrial average for the first time in two years, while the nation’s factories roared ahead in January at the strongest pace in nearly seven years.

As turmoil in Egypt retreated from investors’ sights, a rosy report from the Institute for Supply Management on the nation’s factories took center stage, boosting optimism for 2011 to dispel earlier output worries.

“The investment picture has a big head of steam at the start of 2011,” said economist Jonathan Basile of Credit Suisse Securities, adding that the ISM index “was the highest level so far in the economic recovery.”

Several bellwether stocks for global economics also soared. UPS, a measure of consumer spending, jumped 4.2 percent to $74.59.

Food giant Archer Daniels Midland surged 6.2 percent to $34.70, while crane-maker Manitowoc zoomed 27 percent to $17.11 as profits were doubletheir forecast.

In other upbeat ISM index data, new factory orders hit a seven-year high, and the employment component was the third-best showing in 30 years, a good omen for Friday’s January jobs report.

“This is rarified air,” said Basile of the jobs index component, which breached the 60-point mark for the first time since 2004.

The Dow rose 148.23, or 1.25 percent, to 12,040.16, for a 4 percent gain year to date. The S&P index climbed 1.67 percent to 1,307.59, up 21.47. The Nasdaq jumped 1.89 percent to 2,751.19, up 51.11.

European stocks markets also recovered, but safe-haven US bonds lost their urgency and weakened.

The greenback, which had been a safe bet last week, also lost its appeal and fell broadly against other currencies, with the euro rising to $1.3844.

Oil hit $101.74 a barrel for London’s Brent oil contracts, up 74 cents, while US crude dropped $1.42 to $90.77 a barrel. ptharp@nypost.com