Dow jumps 205 on RIM profit, Merrill report
NEW YORK -- The developments seemed to allay investor fears that economic growth would succumb to tightness in the credit markets. Adding to the measure of relief some investors felt, the Federal Reserve said after the opening bell that it would continue with its special biweekly auctions for banks as long as was necessary to relieve strains in the short-term debt market.
The announcements came as the New York Stock Exchange set a record for volume in the first half hour of trading during what is known as "quadruple witching." It marks the simultaneous expiration of contracts for stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures and often leads to heavy trading near the start and end of trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 205.01, or 1.6%, to end at 13,450.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 24.34, or 1.7%, to finish at 1484.46. The Nasdaq composite index was up 51.13, or 1.9%, to close at 2691.99.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 2.32 billion shares compared with 1.38 billion traded Thursday.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.9%, the S&P 500 gained 1.2% and the Nasdaq jumped 2.1%.
Research in Motion said late Thursday that its fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones. The results gave Wall Street hope that the technology sector has room to expand and that consumers and businesses are still spending.
Adding to investors' upbeat mood, The Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch, facing hefty write-downs due to losing bets on subprime mortgages, may get a capital infusion of as much as $5 billion. The money is expected to come from Singapore state-owned investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte, a fund that in late July said it would buy a 1.77% stake in Barclays for $2 billion.
Related Stories
ABC News Live