Wall Street moved higher Tuesday after two-day rout, as investors focused on testimonies on Capital Hill and digested upbeat earnings reports.
Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest personal computer maker, jumped after the company unexpectedly announced that fourth-quarter and 2009 earnings will come in above Wall Street estimates. Moreover, Home Depot, the largest home-improvement retailer, rallied more than five percent as it reported better-than-anticipated third-quarter profit.
In other corporate news, Yahoo Inc. founder Jerry Yang late Monday announced that he was stepping down as chief executive of the company, which was regarded as an opening to a sale to Microsoft.
However, economic concerns still gnawed at investors. The U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices dropped by 2.8 percent in October, the biggest one-month decline on records, as energy prices fell sharply. Investors worried that the drop may indicate a rising threat of deflation.
Investors were also closely watching the possible bailout of the auto industry as executives of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler LLC and the head of the United Auto Workers union testify at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. The automakers are seeking 25 billion U.S. dollars aid from the government. .
"Investors continue to show tremendous anxiety over the current state of the economy," said Benjamin Wey, president of New York Global Group. "We see market volatility to continue during the remaining two months in 2008 while U.S. equities to follow through with December rally to the upside as many quality names have been clearly oversold."
The Dow Jones average ended up 151.17, or 1.83 percent, to 8,424.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.37, or 0.98 percent, to 859.12. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.22, or 0.08 percent, to 1,483.27.
(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2008)
