Stocks rose sharply yesterday on optimism over an imminent end to Microsoft Corp's three-year anti-trust battle, with the news carrying the market higher despite a sputtering US economy.
"There are some folks out there that would make the reversal in the market back in 2000 coincident with the government's war on Microsoft," said Charles White, president of investment firm Avatar Associates. Microsoft sparked buying after a source said US government officials were weighing a proposal to settle the anti-trust case with a court-imposed deadline looming today. Microsoft climbed $3.69, or 6.35 per cent, to $61.84.
Wall Street rallied despite more signs of a struggling economy. The manufacturing sector sank deeper into recession in October as last month's attacks on the US thwarted efforts by factories to climb out of a 15-month slump, an industry report said.
Among other active stocks, Enron Corp lost $1.91 to $11.99. The energy trader said an inquiry by the US SEC had become a full-scale investigation of questionable financial dealings that have sent its stock price on a nosedive.
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