Stocks rose sharply in New York yesterday, led by financial shares that soared on the possibility that US legislation will soon allow banks, stock brokerages and insurance companies to merge.
At the close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 172.56, or 1.7 per cent, at 10,470.25, erasing Thursday's 94-point decline. The Dow ended a volatile week with a gain of 450.54.
Broader stock indicators also closed higher.
The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 18.04 to 1,301.65, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 14.55 to 2,816.50.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,945 up, 1,076 down and 527 unchanged.
NYSE volume totalled 951.92 million shares, against 984.67 million in the previous session.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.42 to 418.69.
