Posted on: Tuesday, November 13, 2001

War news boosts market

• Hawai'i Stocks
• Updated Market Chart

By Adam Geller
Associated Press

NEW YORK — The flight of Taliban forces from Afghanistan's capital today gave investors a surge of optimism and sent stocks climbing sharply.

Relief that yesterday's jetliner crash in New York appeared to be an accident and not the result of terrorism added to the market's upbeat mood. The news developments boosted the confidence of investors, with a growing number buying on the belief that the market has reached bottom, analysts said.

"If you miss the first month of a bull market you leave a lot of performance on the table," said Mitch Stapley, chief fixed income officer at Fifth Third Bank in Grand Rapids, Mich. "That's what I think you're seeing. People are acknowledging that this bottom might be for real."

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 196.58 at 9,750.95, according to preliminary calculations, a sharp contrast with the plunge in the hours after yesterday's plane crash.

Broader stock indicators also closed higher. The Nasdaq composite index closed up 51.98 at 1,892.11, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 20.76 at 1,139.09.

Analysts said the market — which has rebounded to pre-Sept. 11 levels in recent weeks — was encouraged by progress in the fighting in Afghanistan.

"We've been talking in the past couple of weeks about 10,000 and 2,000," as targets for the Dow and the Nasdaq, said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter Ltd. in New York. "We've been thinking about that for the end of the year, but the way things are going we may get there before that. I think things going well in Afghanistan helps the psychological picture."

The optimism fueled strong buying in technology stocks despite a statement late yesterday from Larry Ellison, Oracle's chief executive officer, that his company's earnings in the current quarter will likely fall short of expectations.

Oracle's stock fell 88 cents to $14.52.

But investors found good news in Texas Instruments, which filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that the third quarter will mark the low point for semiconductor orders and that it expects to meet fourth-quarter expectations.

Texas Instruments rose $1.92 to $33.82.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 7-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.33 billion shares, up from 991.3 million shares the previous day.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, rose 7.24 to 447.72.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent. Germany's DAX index was up 2.6 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 was up 2.5 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 4.3 percent.