Stocks on Wall Street jumped as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told a Congressional panel that the central bank plans to keep interest rates low.His comments also sent oil prices up and outweighed negative news on the housing front.US new houses
Stocks on Wall Street jumped as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told a Congressional panel that the central bank plans to keep interest rates low.
His comments also sent oil prices up and outweighed negative news on the housing front.
US new houses sales in January slumped 11.2% when economists were expecting a 3.8% rise.
After paring early gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 91.75 points, or 0.9%, higher at 10,374.16, wiping out most of the 100-point drop of the previous session.
The Dow's banking components surged after Mr Bernanke finished his opening remarks. Bank of America and JP Morgan were the measure's top performers, up more than 2%.
The only two stocks to go against the trend were Alcoa, down 0.9%, and Kreft Foods, down 0.3%.
The S&P 500 index rose 1.0% to 1105.24, with its financial and technology sectors leading the climb. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 1.0%, to 2235.90.
Other markets
European stock markets turned higher with gains in oil and gas stocks offseting losses in the mining sector.
Among stocks trading higher, Cairn Energy added 1% and HSBC Holdings rose 2.2%. Weak metals prices weighed on mining stocks as gold prices hit a one-week low. Vedanta Resourdes fell 1.8% and Randgold Resources slipped 1.4%.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.2% to 247.10. London's FTSE 100 Index was 0.6% higher at 5344.41, Frankfurt's DAX Index was up 0.2% at 5612.90, and the CAC-40 Index in Paris added 0.2% to 3713.48.
Asian markets ended mixed Tuesday, with concerns about an impending increase in supply of shares dragging on financial stocks in China, while Hong Kong advanced as investors snapped up property developers.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.5% lower to 10,352.10, China's Shanghai Composite lost 0.9%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended flat, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.2%, Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi inched up 0.1%.
India's Sensex rose 0.3% and Singapore's Straits Times climbed 0.9%.
Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Crude prices rose as a government report showed an improvement in fuel demand.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery traded $US1.14 higher, or 1.5%, at $US80 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 72USc higher at $US77.97 a barrel.
Gold futures are down slightly amid options-related selling as participants mull various uncertainties in the market.
February gold settled $US6.20, or 0.5%, lower at $US1096.50 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Dollar down; euro, yen up
The US dollar retreated against the euro and the yen after Mr Bernanke’s testimony pointed to continued low interest rates.
Market reaction pushed the euro to a session high at $US1.3627 and the dollar to a session low of ¥89.76 against the yen.
The euro was at $US1.3616 from $US1.3496 and at ¥122.42 from ¥121.93 late on Tuesday. The dollar was at ¥89.93 from ¥90.18.
The UK pound was at $US1.5450 from $US1.5440.
