NEW YORK -- Stocks rallied hard today after two days of weak performance, boosted by benign economic data, strong retail sales reports and higher oil prices. Dow jumps
up 191.52The Dow Jones industrial average soared 191.52 to close at 9,467.40, near the day's high. The blue-chip index more than erased the 48-point loss over the previous two sessions and ended above 9,400 for the first time in more than a week.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 18.94 to 1,246.64, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 27.69 to 2,292.89.
Advancers beat decliners by a 13-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,711 up, 1,186 down and 599 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 774.82 million shares vs. 749.54 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index rose 8.20 to 590.75, and the American Stock Exchange composite index gained 4.07 to 698.52.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.07 to 394.02.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond slipped 1/16 point, or 62-1/2 cents per $1,000 in face value, while its yield rose to 5.70 percent from late yesterday's 5.69 percent. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The stock market's recovery, which extended a turnaround in technology shares that started late yesterday was "totally justified" by recent economic data and the fact that investors still have a lot of money to put to work, said Thomas McManus, portfolio strategist at NationsBanc Montgomery Securities.