Wall Street overcomes London shock waves
By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Surprisingly calm investors pushed stocks modestly higher yesterday, helping Wall Street recover from steep early losses after the London terrorist attacks.
Investors took heart after the homeland security secretary said there was no "specific credible evidence" of a pending attack in the United States. A sharp drop in oil prices also helped the markets rally.
Traders said the timing of the London attacks, several hours before the start of trading in New York, allowed investors to overcome any knee-jerk reactions to the terrorism news.
U.S. retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp., reported very strong sales figures for June.
The Energy Department reported a drawdown of 3.6 million barrels of crude from the nation's petroleum reserves. In response, a barrel of light crude settled at $60.73, down 55 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after losing more than $2 per barrel earlier in the session.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 9 to 7 on the Big Board, where consolidated volume amounted to 2.01 billion shares, compared with 1.95 billion on Wednesday.
Investors bought up bonds.
Gold prices rose.
The dollar hit a 14-month high against the British pound, but fell against the euro.
Europe's markets suffered sharp losses. Britain's FTSE 100 fell by as much as 4 percent, but recovered somewhat and closed 1.36 percent lower.
