| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
NEW YORK: US stocks leapt higher on Tuesday in a late rally amid a steep slide in oil prices and renewed interest in the battered financial sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 135.16 points (1.18 percent) to close at 11,602.50 and the Nasdaq composite reversed earlier losses to advance 24.43 points (1.07 percent) to 2,303.96.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 17.00 points (1.35 percent) to finish at 1,277.00.
Oil prices plunged more than three dollars, helping to boost investor sentiment. Record-high oil prices have been weighing on consumer spending, the engine of US economic growth, as well as company profit expectations.
"The combination of falling oil prices and better-than-expected earnings reports from companies allowed the bulls to re-enter the market," said Colleen King, an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
With no economic indicators on tap, investors focused on a mixed batch of company earnings.
The financial sector, savaged since the sub-prime mortgage crisis erupted more than a year ago, lured investors with a series of better-than-expected results from big banks like Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America.
Wells Fargo soared 10.49 percent to 30.43 dollars, Citigroup climbed 6.09 percent to 20.89 and Bank of America shot up 13.27 percent to 32.35.
The staggering losses posted on Tuesday by banking giant Wachovia appeared to be offset by the company's moves to share up its finances.
Wachovia reported a second-quarter loss of 8.662 billion dollars amid a severe hit from the US housing slump and said it had written off 6.1 billion dollars "reflecting declining market valuations and asset values."
Shares in Wachovia registered a whopping 27.39 percent gain at 16.79 dollars.
"This session saw a striking turnaround in financial stocks," analysts at Briefing.com wrote in a client note.
"Financials were at the centre of the opening losses and the subsequent late-session rally," they said.
Among other stocks benefiting from strong earnings and outlooks were construction equipment maker Caterpillar, up 2.39 percent at 74.98, and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, 2.25 percent higher at 103.88.
On the downside, financial services group American Express slid 7.11 percent to 37.99 and electronics firm Texas Instruments plummeted 14.62 percent to 24.35 after reporting disappointing earnings after the market close on Monday.
Computer giant Apple slid 2.57 percent to 162.02 after after warning on its outlook despite solid second-quarter results.
Bonds weakened, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rising to 4.097 percent from 4.067 percent on Monday and that on the 30-year bond climbing to 4.663 percent from 4.648 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. - AFP/de
|
