NEW YORK -- Stocks shot higher today, adding 257.21 points to the Dow, as Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan gave the clearest signal yet that he'll fight the global economic crisis with lower interest rates. Dow up 257
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 3.3 percent to 8,154.41 by the close, its highest finish in a month, with more than half of the 257-point gain coming during the final hour of trading.
The gain, the fifth-biggest in points for a single session, left the Dow 246.16 points, or 3.11 percent, above this year's starting point of 7,908.25, but still about 1,183.56 below the July 17 record of 9,337.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 36.46 to 1,066.09, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 62.47 to 1,760.27.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,376 up, 797 down and 372 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 902.88 million shares, up sharply from 687.19 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index rose 16.35 to 526.95, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 12.63 to 646.08. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.76 to 376.00.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 6/32 to 105 3/32, with the yield rising to 5.38 percent.
Greenspan told a Senate panel that Fed officials understood the need to act quickly to contain the widening global crisis, fueling hopes for an interest rate cut at next week's Fed policy meeting. The Fed chairman, who last week dashed hopes for a multinational rate cut in his remarks to a House panel, stressed that his colleagues at the Fed were aware of the seriousness of the crisis.