Dow skyrockets
489 points

Investors' spirits are lifted
by an Adelphia arrest and
the bill to crack down on fraud

---

Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Wall Street stormed higher today, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 480 points.

The arrest of the founder of Adelphia Communications Corp. on charges of looting the now-bankrupt cable company lifted the spirits of investors demoralized by a string of corporate scandals. An agreement between House and Senate negotiators on legislation to crack down on corporate fraud also drove the rally.

It was the Dow's second-largest point gain ever. Other market indicators also enjoyed solid gains after nine weeks of sharp losses.

The advance, which took the Dow back above 8,000, came on heavy volume and intensified late in the session.

The Dow closed up 488.95 at 8,191.29, according to preliminary calculations. That was second only to the 499.19-point gain it had on March 16, 2000.

The Dow's gain was even more remarkable from the standpoint that it ended up 658 points from its intraday low of 7,532.73 achieved shortly after the market opened. The index, which briefly topped 8,200 late in the session, had a range for the day of 688.46 points. The New York Stock Exchange volume, which topped 2.7 billion shares, was the heaviest ever.

The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 58 point today, while its yield rose to 4.49 percent from 4.41 percent late yesterday. Two-year Treasury notes fell 316 point and yielded 2.34 percent, up from 2.24 percent yesterday.

Broader indicators also closed higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index advanced 61.17 to 1,290.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 45.69 to 843.39.

The advance was a dramatic departure from the sharp selling on Wall Street since mid-May as pessimism growing out of the accounting and ethics problems overshadowed an improving economy and healthier earnings reports. Triple-digit drops in the Dow have become the norm -- the blue chips lost 840 points over the previous four sessions alone.

Analysts noted that the rally began shortly after the arrests of the founder of Adelphia and his two sons.

"The market has been waiting for this," Alan Ackerman, vice president at Fahnestock & Co. "We have a big turnaround in process, but whether it will last or not is a big question. Some of this is based on the fact that the House and Senate appear to have made progress on corporate reforms."