Dow Ekes Out Second-Day Gain; Techs Rally - Market Overview * US * News * Story

'Green' Cars Can Look Red Hot
There's a whole new generation of vehicles out there. Click to see the latest.
World's Biggest Debtor Nations
Who are the world's biggest debtor nations? The rankings will probably surprise you.
Greenest Companies
So, what are America’s greenest companies? Click ahead to find out the 2008 results.
See Our Entire Slideshow Archive

SPECIAL REPORTS

House And Home
After two years in the doldrums, some are saying the property market may finally be on the verge of a rebound.
Your Job, Your Life
A survival guide on the job market, from job-hunting tips to coping with unemployment to starting over in a new field.
Love and Money
Money can divide a house even in the best of times, so we may all need some advice to cope during the economic crisis.
More Special Reports

Dow Ekes Out Second-Day Gain; Techs Rally

Companies:Bank of America Corp | Citigroup Inc | ATT Inc | Hovnanian Enterprises Inc | Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.

By: Cindy Perman, CNBC.com | 11 Mar 2009 | 05:20 PM ET

Text Size

Stocks pulled off a second straight gain Wednesday, led by financials and techs, after a rocky session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.9 points to finish at 6,930.40. The S&P 500 advanced 0.2 percent to 721.36, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was the best performer of the three, up 1 percent at 1,371.64.

Major U.S. Indexes

.DJIA

.NCOMP

.SPX

This came on the heels of the best rally in more than three months on Tuesday, which Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS, said was probably 70 percent short covering. Still, the sheer size of the rally — the Dow gained nearly 6 percent — was enough to rattle the shorts, Cashin said.

Financials ended mostly higher as investors were encouraged about government plans to stabilize banks.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a television interview on Tuesday he wanted to make it "compelling" for banks to cleanse their balance sheets of toxic assets and that than the plan to deal with toxic assets is nearly finished.

Then, JPMorgan [JPM Loading... () ] CEO Jamie Dimon added his own encouraging words to the market, saying he sees "modest signs" of an economic recovery. He said that the bank stress tests going on now could "create a lot of credibility within the system" and that if Congress and the Obama administration work together, the U.S. economy could emerge from the crisis by year end.

Echoing similar comments yesterday from Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, Dimon said JPMorgan was profitable in January and February.

Citigroup [C Loading... () ] was the biggest gainer on the Dow, up 6.2 percent. JPMorgan and Bank of America [BAC Loading... () ] were also in the Dow's top five, gaining 4.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

FOR INVESTORS

American depositary shares of UBS [UBS Loading... () ] gained 2.3 percent after the Swiss bank said its 2008 loss was bigger than previously estimated and that it was taking measures to reduce its risk going foward.

But American Express [AXP Loading... () ] skidded 2 percent after Goldman Sachs added the credit-card company to its "conviction sell" list.

On Tuesday, bank analyst Meredith Whitney said credit cards may be the next pillar of the economy to falter.

The financial world continues to be shaken by inquiries into various allegations of actions that may have precipitated the crisis.

New York prosecutors are investigating whether the early payment of bonuses at Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America, last year gave the bank's traders an incentive to mark down the value of their trading positions in the last days of December, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the probe.

And news emerged late Tuesday that Ponzi-scheme swindler Bernard Madoff was expected to plead guilty to 11 counts, which means no plea deal and the possibility that he will serve up to 150 years in prison.

Tech stocks got a boost after UBS raised its rating on Hewlett-Packard [HPQ Loading... () ] to a "buy." HP was the second biggest percentage gainer on the Dow, up 5.8 percent.

And Apple [AAPL Loading... () ] advanced 4.6 percent after the company rolled out a smaller, talking iPod shuffle.

AT&T [ATT Loading... () ] rose 1.4 percent after the telecom announced plans to add about 3,000 jobs in 2009 in order to support customer demand in its wireless, broadband and video businesses.

On the flip side, National Semiconductor [NSM Loading... () ] skidded 2.7 percent after the chip maker warned of slowing demand and said it was moving to reduce its workforce by 26 percent.

Staples [SPLS Loading... () ] slipped 1.7 percent after the office-supply retailer missed expectations with a 14 percent drop in profit.

Hovnanian Enterprises [HOV Loading... () ] jumped 8.1 percent. After the bell Tuesday, the homebuilder reported a wider quarterly loss that missed analysts' estimates but managed to slightly increase its cash cushion due to a federal tax refund.

Dow energy components ExxonMobil [XOM Loading... () ] and Chevron [CVX Loading... () ] declined after oil tumbled more than $3 to settle at $42.33 a barrel.

Still to Come:

THURSDAY: Retail sales; weekly jobless claims; business inventories; Earnings from Smithfield foods
FRIDAY: International trade; import/export prices; consumer sentiment; Geithner to attend G20 meeting in UK.

Tools:

MORE HEADLINES

LATEST FROM OUR BLOGS

FEATURED SLIDESHOWS

SPECIAL REPORTS