Stocks rallied yesterday, as upbeat earnings news from companies like soft-drink giant PepsiCo soothed investors' nerves and Wall Street reacted calmly to a fourth day of action in Afghanistan.
Major market gauges in the last couple of weeks have crept back from wrenching declines after the September 11th attacks, and the broad market now is within a hair of levels reached before hijacked planes levelled the World Trade Centre.
Today marks the one-month anniversary of the deadly attacks, and investors gradually are gaining confidence the measured US military response won't upset Wall Street.
"There are still a lot of things that can go wrong, but I think right now the rally is based on the anticipation that things are going to get better and the military campaign will go OK," said Mr James Volk, co-director of institutional trading at D.A. Davidson & Co.
Companies like PepsiCo, drugmaker Abbott Laboratories and semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research boosted the outlook for Corporate USA after reporting quarterly profits that met or beat analysts' forecasts, despite the lagging economy.
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