NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average surged more than 230 points today, following a strong day in most Asian and European markets, bolstering hopes that the global market selloff has bottomed. Dow surges 232 points
The Dow closed up 232.31 at 7,674.39, a gain of 3.1 percent that added to widespread increases Friday. It was the third-biggest daily point gain ever but not close to a record in terms of percentage swings.
The Dow plunged 554 points last Monday, then scraped its way back through the week, including a record 337-point rise last Tuesday. With today's gain, it had regained all but 41 of the points lost in last week's global selloff.
Despite its losses from its peak in August, when it was up 28 percent for the year, the Dow still is around 19 percent above its level at the end of 1996, much more of a gain than had been forecast.
NYSE volume totaled 568.68 million shares, heavy but continuing to tail off from last week's frenzied pace.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 24.40 to close at 939.02, and the NYSE's composite index rose 11.49 to close at 492.63.
The Nasdaq composite index climbed 36.54 to close at 1,630.15, and the American Stock Exchange index rose 10.14 to 685.89.
"The rally in Hong Kong as well as the European markets clearly gave the opening a big boost and at least placed the notion with investors that the worst is behind us," said Ned Riley, chief investment officer at the Bank of Boston.