Blue-chip stocks surged higher on Wall Street yesterday as Thursday's powerful rebound reassured investors that the summer's lows will hold as a bottom for the market even with a troubling economic backdrop.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 167.61 points - or by 2.2 per cent - to 7,899.52, pushing into positive territory for the week and just shy of this year's starting point, 7,908.25.
The rally extended Thursday's sharp rebound, which wiped out all but 9 points of a 274-point plunge and prevented a slide below the lows set on August 31st and September 1st.
Broader stock indicators lagged the blue-chip advance again, but still posted sizable gains as bigname technology and financial shares rallied back from a weeklong pounding.
The Dow opened the day higher, but then briefly slipped to a 65-point loss as investors grew more cautious before what promises to be a busy week of company reports on third-quarter profits.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 73.37, or 5.2 per cent, to 1,492.49. The index, which is dominated by big technology names and smaller companies, had plummeted nearly 200 points, or about 12 per cent in value, the prior four days.
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