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Stocks shift
into rally mode

The Nasdaq jumps 91 points
to retake the 2,000 mark while
the Dow surges 83

---

By Lisa Singhania
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Technology and blue-chip stocks snapped back today as bargain hunters capitalized on the wreckage left after Wall Street's worst day this year.

But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the advance, which came primarily on heavy trading late in the session. Although the Nasdaq composite index closed above the 2,000 benchmark, recovering from yesterday's selloff, it remains near its lowest level in more than two years. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrials' gains barely cut into its 436-point loss in the previous session.

"The rebound we saw was very positive, but this isn't over," said Brian Belski, fundamental market strategist at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "We're going to be back and forth here for a while," he added.

The Nasdaq closed up 91.42 at 2,014.80, a 6.5 percent gain, taking back much of yesterday's 129-point loss.

The Dow rose 82.55 to 10,290.80, or less than 1 percent, in choppy trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.50 percent, gaining 17.50 to 1,197.66, but is still in bear-market territory at more than 20 percent off its high.

Decliners led advancers by more than 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,717 down, 1,361 up and 207 unchanged. Volume was 1.36 billion vs. 1.23 billion yesterday.

The NYSE composite index rose 3.37 to 609.34, the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.87 to 905.21 and the Russell 2000 index rose 3.86 to 462.26.

The Treasury's 10-year note fell 12/32 to 100 15/32; its yield rose 5 basis points to 4.94 percent. The 30-year bond lost 18/32 to 100 19/32; its yield rose 4 basis points to 5.34 percent.

The staying power of the stock rebound was questioned, though, by market watchers who contend the outlook for company profits remains dismal and investor sentiment is still fragile.

"We've gotten down far enough that there is going to be some bargain-hunting like what we're seeing today," said Richard Dickson, technical analyst at Scott & Stringfellow. "But I don't think we've put the low on the market yet. We're clearly still correcting the excesses in some of the tech stocks."

Still, there were some signs that, at least for the moment, stocks and stock prices might be stabilizing.

Investors gave an enthusiastic response to some of the same tech names they had beaten up yesterday. Cisco Systems was up 13 percent, gaining $2.56 to $21.38, Intel rose $1.63 to $29.38 and Microsoft climbed $2.25 to $54.19.

Intel and Microsoft are Dow components.

Wall Street also showed interest in financial stocks. J.P. Morgan rose $1.91 to $47.40.