Hot & Cold Sectors
Tracking the major movements across the best & worst performing industry sector indexes.
Dow 30 Stocks
Top Gainers & Losers
Major Indexes & Stocks to Watch

MORE U.S. INDEXES

» More

TOP HEADLINES

» Markets | Economy | Companies

- Is Bill Gross Losing His Touch As the Market's Bond King?

FEATURED SLIDESHOWS

» More

Industries Bouncing Back
Here are some industries that are making a comeback after being hit hard by the recession.
Biggest Holders of US Debt
See who owns the most U.S. government debt.
Romantic Luxury Homes
Romance, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.

MOST POPULAR

News

Blog Posts

Videos

SPECIAL REPORTS

» More

- Road Warriors
  All the gadgets and gear a savvy frequent traveler needs to navigate the global economy.

HOT ON FACEBOOK

Stocks Rally Amid Hopes for Bailout

Published: Thursday, 25 Sep 2008 | 10:22 AM ET

Text Size

By: CNBC.com

Stocks opened higher Thursday amid hopes that a bailout will get passed today.

If a deal gets passed, "It bides us time," Warren Meyers of Walter J. Dowd, told CNBC. "It doesn't solve the underlying problems but it gives us time to look at them and try and solve them ... that will slowly build confidence" in the market, he said.

Major U.S. Indexes

.DJIA

.NCOMP

.SPX

However, gains were curbed by worries about General Electric's lowered outlook and misses in two key economic stats.

General Electric [GE Loading... () ] was the biggest drag on the Dow after the economic bellwether cut its earnings outlook for the third-quarter and full year and halted its buyback plans because of turmoil in the financial services markets. (Track the Dow winners losers.)

For the Investor

Jobless claims jumped by 32,000 last week, more than the 20K jump expected. Orders for durable goods, items such as cars and refrigerators that are meant to last three years or more, fell by 4.5 percent, nearly three times the 1.6-percent drop expected. A lot of that was due to a drop in demand in the volatile transportation sector, which fell 3 percent, when economists had expected a 0.5-percent drop.

More dismal statistics for the housing sector: New-home sales plunged 11.5 percent to a 17-year low as prices hit a four-year low.

But the market shrugged off the triple miss on the economic front, instead pinning its hopes on Congress.

The bailout bill is "almost a done deal," U.S. Representative Paul Kanjorski told CNBC on Thursday.

"I'm more optimistic this morning than I've ever been," Kanjorski, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who serves on the House Financial Service Committee and is chairman of a subcommittee on capital markets, said.

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush called an emergency meeting to discuss to the bailout plan as Congress looked closer to approving the controversial and highly politicized market intervention.

The old saying "cash is king" became fashionable again as experts warned in times like these investors should take refuge in safety.

Stocks had meandered on Wednesday as uncertainty about the deal and whether it would be approved this week or held up by political wrangling. Meanwhile, interbank lending remained extremely strained as banks sought to hold onto cash reserves.

UBS [UBS Loading... () ] shares surged about 5 percent on chatter that HSBC [HSBA Loading... () ] is prepared to make a bid on the Swiss bank, even though sources have told Reuters otherwise.