A Broad Advance For Stocks On Fed News
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Stocks had their broadest advance in more than a year after American Express’s earnings beat estimates and President Bush named his chief economist, Ben Bernanke, as the next Federal Reserve chairman.
“It’s a bit of a relief that earnings have been coming along pretty nicely, and the Fed announcement wasn’t unexpected,” said Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.5 billion as chief investment officer of Philadelphia Trust. “That’s a great excuse to rally.”
Takeover prospects also helped boost the market. Computer Sciences Corporation and Albertson’s both gained.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 19.79, or 1.7%, to 1199.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 169.78, or 1.7%, to 10,385. Both measures had their best performance since April 21. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 33.62, or 1.6%, at 2115.83.
Almost 13 stocks rose for every two that fell on the Big Board, the highest ratio since August 16, 2004. All 24 industry groups in the S &P 500 rose except commercial services. Some 1.65 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, 5.8% more than the three-month average.
