Posted on: Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Stock investors hoping the fall rally has begun
By Michael J. Martinez
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Investors, cheered by falling oil prices and an improving job picture, sent stocks higher yesterday, hoping the news has signaled a renewal of economic strength and a fall rally in stocks.
Wall Street also moved higher on Friday's jobs report, which was overlooked in last week's very light trading and overshadowed by Intel Corp.'s disappointing mid-quarter report. The Labor Department reported a 0.1 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate and the creation of 144,000 jobs.
Volume on the major markets rose substantially after last week's record lows. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners yesterday by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.55 billion shares, compared to 1.16 billion on Friday.
Many investors remained on the sidelines, however, awaiting Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before Congress today, when he is expected to give his view on the strength of the economic recovery.
"I think Greenspan will stick to his mantra of a measured pace of interest rate hikes," said John Lynch, chief market analyst at Evergreen Investments.
The Dow Jones industrial average went up 0.8 percent to 10,342.79, its highest close since June 30. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 1.2 percent to 562.93.
Oil prices dropped below the $43-per-barrel mark before rising slightly by the close of the session, giving credence to investors' belief that the summer's run on oil prices was at an end. A barrel of light crude settled at $43.31, down 68 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
