WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Wall Street jumps on bailout hopes, credit remains tight
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-26 08:00 The Dow rose 196.89, or 1.82 percent, to 11,022.06. The gain helped erase some of the losses from heavy selling earlier in the week, though the blue chips still remain down by more than 360 points, or 3.2 percent. Broader stock indicators also rose Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 23.31, or 1.97 percent, to 1,209.18 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 30.89, or 1.43 percent, to 2,186.57. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.73 billion shares, compared with 4.66 billion traded Wednesday. Roberts noted that the market's back-and-forth moves of late might be unnerving for investors but ultimately can leave stocks with little to show for all the volatility. "Most of this is just oscillating around a straight line," he said, noting that last week's huge daily moves, which also included triple-digit moves in the Dow, left stocks largely unchanged for the week. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies Thursday, while gold prices fell. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $2.29 to settle at $108.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, disappointing readings on employment, housing and demand for big-ticket manufactured goods, as well as a sobering forecast from General Electric Co., underscored the difficulties facing the economy. The US Labor Department said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 493,000 last week -- the highest level in seven years and well above analysts' expectations of 445,000. Hurricanes Ike and Gustav added about 50,000 new claims in Louisiana and Texas, the department said. The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell sharply in August to the slowest pace in 17 years. The average sales price also fell by the largest amount on record. New homes sales in the country dropped by 11.5 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 460,000 units, the slowest sales pace since January 1991. The department also said orders for expensive manufactured goods sank in August by the largest amount in seven months as demand for both airplanes and cars sank. Durable goods orders fell by 4.5 percent last month, far worse than the 1.6 percent decline that economists expected and the biggest drop since a 4.7 percent fall in January. GE lowered its forecast for third-quarter and full-year earnings, citing unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. The stock, which had declined in the early going, finished up $1.09, or 4.4 percent, to $25.68 alongside the gains in the broader market. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.97, or 1.14 percent, to 705.74. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.90 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.99 percent, Germany's DAX index added 1.99 percent, and France's CAC-40 jumped 2.73 percent. |
