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Wall Street Enjoys Its Best Week In Months

AP Photo

Robert Vella , right, of Bay Crest Partners works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday in New York.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 14, 2009

NEW YORK - A stunning about-face in bank shares handed the stock market its best week since November.

The market has shot up as much over the past several days as it might in some years, with major indicators chalking up gains of about 10 percent.

Friday's gains were modest compared with the huge rallies on Tuesday and Thursday, but investors welcomed the moderate buying and the market's ability to hold its ground. Several other recent rallies have ended with disappointing selloffs.

Fears have eased that the nation's major financial institutions would collapse or at least require additional government lifelines to stay alive. Market veterans were quick to rein in hopes that the market would chart an uninterrupted recovery but many still saw the four straight days of gains as a good sign.

"The biggest question for investors now is, 'Have we put in the lows and is it safe to get back into the water?'" said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.92, or 0.8 percent, to 7,223.98. The Dow hasn't put up four straight gains since late November.

For the week, the Dow jumped 9 percent, its best week since rising 9.7 percent in the week ended Nov. 28.

Other market indicators also gained. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.81, or 0.8 percent, to 756.55. The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.40, or 0.4 percent, to 1,431.50.

The S&P 500 index added 10.7 percent for the week and the Nasdaq rose 10.6 percent.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects nearly all stocks traded in America, jumped 10.7 percent. That's a paper gain of about $900 billion.

Still, the Dow and the S&P 500 index are still down by about half from their peak in October 2007.

The turnaround began Tuesday as the head of Citigroup said the bank had managed to turn a profit in the first two months of the year. That helped lift the cloud of worry that has cloaked financial stocks since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September.

Traders who last week pounded Citi shares to below $1 began buying the stock again. The gains in the beaten-down industry were enormous: Citi surged 73 percent for the week, Bank of America Corp. jumped 83 percent and Wells Fargo & Co. rose 62 percent.

Traders are often reluctant to hold on to large positions ahead of the weekend out of fears that bad news could be on the way. This coming weekend is packed of events that could have a great affect on trading next week.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 countries had meetings Friday and more are planned today outside London, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the financial crisis in a rare interview to be broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday.

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