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Iraq Deal Spurs Wall Street Comeback
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
(6:34 AM HKT) (22:34 GMT)
By Parija Bhatnagar
The Cable News Network

Employment research firm Challenger Gray & Christmas said in a report published Tuesday that job cuts announced at U.S. firms fell to their lowest level in 22 months in September, indicating a 41 percent drop in layoff announcements from August to September. Payne said the data suggested a possible turnaround in the nation's employment picture and may bode well for Friday's September jobs report. That report, however, is expected to show that the unemployment rate has ticked back to 5.9 percent from 5.7 percent in August.

NEW YORK -- CNN/Money
The Dow Jones industrial average made a fighting comeback with a triple-digit rally Tuesday, posting its strongest gain in six weeks at the start of a new month and new quarter.

Blue-chip stocks soared more than 300 points in the final hour of trading, following news that Iraq had reached agreement to allow the return of U.N. weapons inspectors; an advance team is due in Baghdad in about two weeks.

The development dampens war prospects and also helped push a weak manufacturing report out of the picture.

The possibility of war between Iraq and the United States has hurt stocks in recent months, contributing to one of the market's worst selloffs in memory.

"The Iraq news definitely was a positive. This morning, people were fearful of the ISM data, which came mostly in line. So stocks tracked higher on these developments," said Tony Dwyer, market strategist with Kirlin Securities.

But some traders curbed their enthusiasm over the day's performance.

"I think people are waiting for the dust to settle," Tim Smalls, equity trader with SG Cowen, told CNNfn's Street Sweep.

"We've had so many issues to deal with over the past year that this one day and a great start to the quarter -- it gets us off on a good note. But I wouldn't necessarily put a tremendous amount of stock into it as changing people's psyche on the markets."

The market rally came a day after the major stock indexes closed the book on both an abysmal September and the worst third quarter since the market crash of 1987.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 346.86 to 7938.79) rose 4.5 percent -- its third-best percent gain for the year -- to close at a session high. The Nasdaq composite (up 41.66 to 1213.72) gained 3.5 percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 32.63 to 847.91) rose 4 percent -- its fourth-biggest percentage gain for the year.

The Na sdaq overcame its losses earlier in the session by taking cheer from an upgrade of Dell Computer and a "lucky" mistake by Sun Microsystems.

* Job cuts fall
* IBM seals billion-dollar deal
* Still cautious
(More: CNN.com News Source)
2002 © Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

On a brighter note, the Iraqi people will continue to live under an oppressive, murdering tyrant.

Boy, that was a close one...
Dan