Stocks Gain for 4th Day Despite Weak Data
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, November 27, 2008
NEW YORK, Nov. 26 -- Stocks gained for the fourth straight session, as optimism about President-elect Barack Obama's plans for handling the economy outweighed Wednesday's flurry of discouraging economic data.
Investors began to unwind defensive bets in drugmakers and consumer staples stocks, and moved back into shares of home builders, automakers and other companies that had been badly beaten down in recent months.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 2.9 percent, or 247.14 points, to 8726.61, as the blue-chip index pared losses from early in the session and closed above 8500 for the first time in almost two weeks.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 3.5 percent, or 30.29 points, to 887.68, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rallied 4.6 percent, or 67.37 points, to 1532.10.
The last time the Dow rose four sessions in a row was in May.
"Valuations already are so reflective of the worst that maybe as long as nothing crazy comes out of left field, the bias should be higher," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
At a news conference Wednesday in Chicago, Obama announced that he has appointed former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to lead the new President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, a panel that also will include University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee. Both men have been advising Obama as he prepares to inherit the presidency amid a seismic credit crisis and a sharp recession.
"People should understand that help is on the way," Obama said. "We are going to be able to get through these difficult times, but we're just going to have to make some good choices."
Shares of General Motors, which will send executives back to Congress after the Thanksgiving holiday to try to hammer out a deal for federal aid, jumped more than 35 percent, or $1.25, to $4.81. Shares in Citigroup, which secured government help on Monday after a tailspin in the stock threatened the bank's prospects, surged nearly16 percent, or 97 cents, to $7.05.
Builders including Lennar, Centex and KB Home helped bolster the S&P, which also got a lift from clothing companies Liz Claiborne and Jones Apparel. That was despite the release of government data and closely watched economic indexes showing steep drops in new-home sales, durable goods orders, personal spending and one measure of consumer confidence.
