US stocks leaped on Thursday, as investors snapped up beaten-down shares the day after Wall Street's worst day since the 1987 stock market crash while consumer companies gained as the price of oil fell. Discount retailers, such as Wal-Mart and healthcare companies drove indexes higher as investors bet their profits will prove more resilient in an economic downturn.
Energy companies and materials, which were mauled in a broad sell off on Wednesday, rebounded, even as the price of oil fell below $70 a barrel. In another extremely volatile session, the Dow swung in a range of 700 points. Traders said monthly options expirations may have contributed to the swings. Stocks had fallen sharply early in the session, after data showed factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region fell to an 18-year low this month, fuelling fears of a severe recession.
"I think this is bargain hunting and there are some bargains out there. Some of these stocks are at historic lows," said Warren Simpson, managing director at Stephens Capital Management in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 401.35 points, or 4.68 percent, to 8,979.26.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 38.53 points, or 4.24 percent, to 946.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 89.38 points, or 5.49 percent, at 1,717.71. US crude futures settled more than 6 percent lower, ending below $70 a barrel after weekly government inventory data reflected sliding demand.
Microsoft Corp shares rose 6.8 percent to $24.19 after chief executive Steve Ballmer said a Web search advertising deal with Yahoo Inc makes economic sense and may still be possible, though the two sides are not in any discussions. Shares of Yahoo shot up 10.6 percent to $12.99.
In trading after the closing bell, Google shares rose 7.5 percent after reporting results. During the regular session, financial shares underperformed the market. Citigroup fell 2 percent to $15.90 after it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss due to loan losses and write-downs for complex and risky debt.
Among energy companies, Exxon Mobil rose 11.4 percent to $69.45. Chesapeake Energy Corp shares rose 12.3 percent to $18.35 after the company said it has obtained a $460 million line of credit for its natural gas gathering and processing unit, helping to ease investor worries about liquidity.
Joe Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at online brokerage thinkorswim Group in Chicago said that traders unwinding their hedged options positions in the S&P 500 index ahead of October options expiration on Friday contributed to Thursday's wild swings in stocks. The unwinding triggered big buy programs on S&P 500 stocks at the end of the day, he said.
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.99 billion shares changing hands, above last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.9 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 3.34 billion shares traded, well above last year's daily average of 2.17 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of about 2 to 1 on the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
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