U.S. stock indexes rocketed higher Friday, with the major stock indexes wiping out a week of shattering losses, as Wall Street cheered the government's effort to unfreeze credit markets as well as plans to move against short sellers.
The major stock indexes climbed above the level at which they stood before the start of the watershed week, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) lose about 800 points in the first three days of trading.
But at least one analyst questioned whether the weekly gain would remain intact at the end of the day.
"Panic buyers, most likely the shorts, were wiling to pay any price and they sure did," said Elliot Spar, option-market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., describing the burst higher, especially among financial shares.
"If details of the grand plan are revealed over the weekend, it may create a sell on the news on Monday morning. I suggest traders with big profits from yesterday lighten up before the close," said Spar.
Up more than 400 points early on, the Dow industrials was recently up 336.76 points at 11,356.45, with 24 of its 30 components in the green.
American International Group Inc. (AIG) was flying 56.5% higher, with major shareholders of the giant insurer said to be pursing a bid to pay off the federal government's loan to AIG in time to avoid the government taking an 80% stake in the company, the Wall Street Journal said in an online report.
Citigroup Inc. (C) also bolstered the Dow, up 23.7%, followed by Bank of America Corp. (BAC), recently ahead 17.7%.
No comments:
Post a Comment