NEW YORK -- Stocks rose sharply today as a tame inflation reading and a strong showing on most foreign markets helped overshadow worries about the latest U.S.-Iraq standoff and an unresolved global financial crisis. Dow rises 84.7
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 84.72 points to about 7,572.48, erasing the remaining damage from Wednesday's 157-point slide and trimming the week's loss to just 8.84. For the second straight day, the Dow's strongest components included battered favorites such as IBM, Disney and Merck.
Advancers led decliners by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,933 up, 979 down and 535 unchanged. NYSE volume was 634.78 million shares vs. 642.34 million yesterday.
Broader indicators also posted sizable gains, led by the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 11.69 to close at 928.35, and the NYSE index climbed 5.37 to 486.06. The Nasdaq index rose 25.90 to 1,583.64, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 5.76 to 672.62.
Meanwhile, the price of the Treasury's 30-year bond rose 3/32 point, or 94 cents per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon. Its yield fell to 6.09 percent from 6.10 percent yesterday.
With key markets such as Hong Kong and Brazil rebounding sharply today, Wall Street shrugged off another rough day in Tokyo, where the stock market sank to another 21/2-year low amid disappointment with the government's plan to jump start the Japanese economy.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index has fallen 11.5 percent, in less than three weeks.