Monday, October 13, 2008

Dow bounces back with biggest point jump ever

Dow jumps 936 points in biggest point gain ever. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all gain over 11%.

Stocks rallied Monday afternoon, with the Dow up 976 points during the session, as investors bet that the worst of the credit crisis is over, following a series of global initiatives announced over the last few days.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) ended 936 points higher, after having risen as much as 976 points during the session. The advance was the largest ever during a session on a point basis. The point gain was equal to 11.1%, the fourth-best day ever on a percentage basis.

The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index added 11.7% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 11.8%.

Stocks were buoyant Monday as investors welcomed a global effort to unfreeze the credit market and get money flowing through the system again. Although stocks reacted positively, credit markets barely budged.

"We had some good news this morning from the Fed and the other central banks, but we were also oversold on an historic level and due for a big bounce," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Last week was the Dow's worst ever, ending a stunning eight-session selloff that seared 2,400 points off the blue-chip indicator. That represented a 22% decline in the Dow, something not seen since at least the '30s, wiping out $2.4 trillion in market value, according to losses in the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the broadest measure of the market.

Detrick said that not only had the Dow fallen for eight-straight sessions, but it had also fallen for eight-straight weeks.

"We basically saw a crash, and so you're going to see a big bounce off that," he said.

Whether the rally can continue beyond the short-term is unclear, as analysts debate whether the market really put in a bottom on Friday.

Christopher Colarik, portfolio manager at Glenmede Investment Management, said he thinks the market likely put in a bottom Friday when it touched session lows.

"We saw a lot of desperate selling over the last few weeks and at some point, these stocks start to look attractive," he said.

Previous efforts to get the credit markets moving again had failed to reassure investors, but the latest developments seemed to provide reassurance.

"Seeing that there's going to be more of a global commitment to resolving the financial crisis has given confidence to investors and gotten them to put some money to work," Colarik said.

Gains were broad based, with 29 out of 30 Dow stocks rising. Highlights included: GM (GM, Fortune 500), up 33%; Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), up 22%; Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), up 21%; American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), up 20%; and MIcrosoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), up 18%

96 of the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) gained, as did 472 of the S&P 500 components.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers 10 to 1 on volume of 1.14 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 5 to 1 on volume of 1.84 billion shares.

The latest: On Monday, Neel Kashkari, assistant Treasury Secretary and interim head of the $700 billion bailout program - outlined some of the steps the government will take in the weeks and months ahead. The program includes buying soured mortgage assets from banks and buying stock in a number of financial institutions. (Full story)

Meanwhile, House Democrats are meeting Monday to put together a second economic stimulus package that could be worth $150 billion, although House Republicans are reportedly skeptical, CNN reports.

World leaders met over the weekend to come up with solutions. After an emergency meeting Sunday, 15 European nations agreed to help their troubled banks by adding capital and guaranteeing inter-bank lending. (Full story)

Additionally, the British government said it would pump $63 billion into three of the country's banks.

And the U.S. central bank said it will offer an unlimited amount of dollars to three other central banks in an effort to keep money flowing. (Full story)

The Fed announced an emergency rate cut last week, has pledged to help U.S. companies by buying short-term debt directly from businesses and has made billions available to banks in return for damaged assets.

Morgan Stanley: The company said it has completed plans to sell part of itself to Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ. The $9 billion deal gives the company a 21% stake in Morgan Stanley. Morgan (MS, Fortune 500) shares jumped 55% and topped the NYSE's most-actives list.

It was one of many bank stocks gaining. Other advancers included Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500).

Automakers: General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) surged 32% and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) gained 27%, after the automakers had been among the hardest hit stocks in the recent selloff. Reports surfaced over the weekend that GM has held talks with Chrysler about a possible merger, although analysts say GM would need to raise cash ahead of any potential deal.

Credit markets still frozen: The recently announced initiatives made a small dent in the lending freeze Monday, although conditions remained tight.

The three-month Libor, or what banks charge each other to borrow for three months, eased to 4.75% from a 2008 high of 4.82% Friday.

The Libor-OIS spread, a measure of cash scarcity, eased to 3.61% from a record 3.67% Friday, suggesting cash is more available than at the end of last week.

The TED spread, which is the difference between what banks pay to borrow from each other for three months and what the Treasury pays, fell to 4.57% after spiking to an all-time high of 4.65% Friday.

The wider the spread, the more reluctant banks are to lend to each other, rather than from the federal government. When markets are fairly calm, banks charge each other premiums that are not much higher than the U.S. government.

Treasury bond markets are closed Monday for Columbus Day. (Full story)

Other markets: U.S. light crude oil for November delivery gained $3.50 to $81.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, oil prices plunged more than $8 to a 13-month low.

Oil prices have tumbled on bets of slowing demand since the price of crude hit an all-time high of $147.27 a barrel on July 11.

The price of gas decreased for the 26th consecutive day, according to a survey of credit card activity by motorist group AAA.

COMEX gold for December delivery tumbled $24 to $835.80 an ounce.

In currency trading, the dollar slumped against the euro and the yen.

source: cnn.com

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