WORLD> America
Stocks soar at opening after US gov't rescue plan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-19 22:17

NEW YORK -- Wall Street extended a huge rally Friday as investors stormed back into the market, relieved that the government plans to rescue banks from billions of dollars in bad debt. The Dow Jones industrials rose nearly 400 points, giving them a massive gain of more than 800 over two days.


Traders work in the product options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange in New York, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008.  The Dow Jones industrials rose nearly 400 points Friday, giving them a massive gain of more than 800 over two days. [Agencies]

A new ban on short selling, or placing bets that a stock will fall, was likely adding to the market's gains. And Friday was a quarterly "quadruple witching" day, which marks the simultaneous expiration of options contracts, an event that often adds to volatility.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be speaking at 10 a.m. Eastern time about the rescue plan, which is expected to help alleviate the year-old credit crisis by removing soured real estate debt from financial institutions' books.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 399.21, or 3.62 percent, to 11,418.90 after soaring past 400 just after the open.

Broader stock indicators also surged. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 53.16, or 4.41 percent, to 1,259.67, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 98.81, or 4.49 percent, to 2,297.91.