US stocks rebound in late rally
Buyers have swooped back into the US stock market.
The Dow Jones closed up 117.28, or 1.2%, at 9,462.90, while the Nasdaq rose 43.93, or 2.5%, to close at 1,775.47.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 14.89, or 1.3%, at 1,100.09, and the Russell 2000 index rose 7.12 to 434.77.
The buying swoop reversed a sharp decline as the passage of anti-terrorist legislation and a government stimulus package raised hopes for an economic recovery.
Semiconductor shares also rebounded, led by industry bellwether Intel, up 62 cents at $26.10 and Applied Materials, up $2.09 at $37.43.
Leading data storage maker EMC was also up 74 cents at $13.22.
Earlier, a pair of dismal economic reports had compounded worries about the fallout from last month's terror attacks to send stocks lower.
But as in recent sessions, investors absorbed the bad news and focused on good news regarding individual companies.
The day's gain means the Dow has won back 1,227 points, or 85%, of the 1,369 it lost in the first week of trading after the attacks. The Nasdaq is 80 points above its pre-attack level and the S&P 500 is seven points higher than its September 10 close.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 9-to-7 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totalled 1.35 billion shares, slightly above Wednesday's pace.
