U.S. Stocks Stage Biggest Two-Day Rally Since 2002; Banks Gain

[babylonsister]

U.S. Stocks Stage Biggest Two-Day Rally Since 2002; Banks Gain

By Elizabeth Stanton
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Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks staged the biggest two- day rally in five years, led by financial shares, after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn buttressed expectations for another interest rate cut.

Citigroup Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose more than 5 percent as banks and brokerages in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained the most since 2002. EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. helped push the Nasdaq Composite Index to a 3.2 percent gain after Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. forecast a ``strong'' fourth quarter for both.

``Kohn's comments just add to a perception that the Fed is embarking on a sustained path of easing,'' said Michael Metz, the New York-based chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., which manages $60 billion. ``There's also huge relief that the worst of the financial crisis may be behind us.''

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 40.79, or 2.9 percent, to 1,469.02, bringing its two-day gain to 4.4 percent, the most since October 2002. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 331.01, or 2.6 percent, to 13,289.45. The Nasdaq Composite gained 82.11 to 2,662.91. More than 13 stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

European shares also climbed, with the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 gaining 2.8 percent to 364.09, the most since 2003. U.S. Treasury and European government bonds fell as the stock-market gains reduced the appeal of fixed-rate investments.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_ynSUtq5ZgI&refer=home

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Careening between the guardrails.

Don't mind the sound of those squealing tires, it's all under control.

[Bozita]

4. That's perfect!

[still_one]

2. I think you can count on the fed reducing interest rates December 10

I do not think that will prevent the forclosures from happening though

[Auggie]

3. I thought China warned against any more interest rate cuts

[still_one]

5. wall street is putting too much pressure on bernie, in my view, and he will cave

it used to be that the feds priority was to contain inflation, and support the dollar

Other interests seem to have taken center stage now

When they exclude food and energy from the inflation numbers you know we are not dealing with a straight deck

Many of the issues we are going through now I blame on greenspan

[Auggie]

9. I shudder to think what happens when China stops funding our debt

[still_one]

11. They won't, at least for the time being. They need our consumers /nt

[Auggie]

16. Until the #s of India and China consumers supplant the USA. That has to be very soon.

[NashVegas]

13. It's Not About Foreclosures

It's about giving the really heavy investors the chance to cash out, IMO.

[Deja Q]

6. Until everybody fears the dollar's value drops again because somebody lowered interest rates

Didn't the Fed say they would stop caving in to the banks at one point?

[madrchsod]

7. 'buy`m when they`re up!

buy`m when they`re down!' what a scam....

[wtmusic]

10. Up? These babies are going up forever! This is the ground floor!

:crazy:

[Tempest]

8. Don't forget Dhabi's bailout of Citigroup

That's had an effect on the market as well.

[spanone]

12. a little perspective....the dow was down 237 the day before.

[Johonny]

14. Seems to me

the Dows been bouncing around 13000 since May. Given the current state of the economy it's very likely to maintain that pattern for a while. Now's not a bad time to buy in if you are investing for the long term.

[spanone]

15. if you ain't in it for the long run, take your money to Vegas

[MadHound]

17. Like the last lowering of interest rates has done anything

Sorry, but it takes six to nine months for lowered interest rates to have any effect on our economy. So far, we haven't seen any of those effects, and frankly I doubt that we will for a long time, if ever. The simple fact is that it doesn't matter how low the interest rates are, people aren't going to buy those big ticket items if they have no money, which is the case for the majority of people in this age of rising fuel, energy, food and other prices.

Meanwhile these lowered interest rates are adding more fuel to the fire of inflation. Given that the numbers that show what the economy is really doing are all looking south, the Dow is simply whistling past the graveyard at this point. We're heading right over the cliff, and at this point we're pretty much out of options that would prevent this from happening.