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Iraq Deal Encourages Bargain Hunt Rally on Wall Street
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
(23:59 BDST)
By Rupert Cornwell
The Independent

... the decline was less steep than some analysts feared, and was accompanied by hints unemployment may be easing. That and renewed hopes that war in Iraq may be avoided was all that buyers needed to step in to take advantage of the bargains on offer.

WASHINGTON
After its bleakest month in four years, Wall Street kicked off the new one yesterday in style, as bargain hunters took the weapons inspection deal between Iraq and the United Nations to send all the main market indices sharply higher.

How long this rally will last was another matter, with the economy still stuck in the doldrums, consumer confidence still ebbing, and no sign of a revival in corporate profits. But briefly, the September slump was forgotten as the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 347 points by the close to stand at 7,939, a gain of 4.6 per cent. The technology-loaded Nasdaq Composite index rose 42 points, more than 3 per cent, while the broader-based S&P 500 jumped 4 per cent.

The big plus for the market was the Iraq agreement, after stocks had earlier drifted on a new government report that manufacturing output had contracted slightly in September. The Institute for Supply Management said its factory index had slipped to 49.5 from 50.5 in August, falling under the 50 mark that divides growth from shrinkage. It was the first such fall in eight months, and further evidence that the recovery in the US may be running out of steam.
(More: Independent.co.uk News Source)
2002 © Independent Digital.

Dan