Investing September 18, 2001

Stocks Recover Slightly at Midday

September 18, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - US stocks managed to eke out some small gains at mid-day Tuesday, as investors appeared to regain some confidence in the wake of Monday's sell-off.

Reported by

Nevin E. Adams

Analysts attributed much of the gains to bargain hunting, with airline stocks leading the way. Also on the move were technology companies, which were expected to benefit from rebuilding in the financial sector.

Travel services and insurance continued to suffer, as did financial firms with consumers seen as less likely to invest and borrow.

At about noon, the Dow was up 17.22 points at 8,937.92, the NASDAQ was up 5.88 points at 1,585.43 and the S&P 500 had risen 1.85 points to 1,040.62. The small-cap Russell 2000 was 1.82 points lower at 415.85.

On the NYSE nearly 900 million shares were traded, with declining issues enjoying a 17-to-13 advantage.

Earlier in the day the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan cut interest rates, joining the Fed and the ECB in a global effort to shore up financial markets after last week’s terrorist attacks.

On Monday the Dow suffered its biggest daily point loss ever, 684.81 points, and the S&P 500 dropped nearly 5%, losing 53.77 points to 1,038.77. The NASDAQ plunged 6.83%, ending the day at 1,579.55.