Story Created:
Jul 16, 2008 at 5:42 PM EST
Story Updated:
Jul 16, 2008 at 8:53 PM EST
Dow Jones Industrial Average rises more than 200 points
NEW YORK (AP) - Some upbeat news from a big bank and another day of falling crude oil prices sent stocks sharply higher. The Dow gained 276 points to 11,239, paced by a rebound in battered financial stocks.
The S&P rose 30 points to 1,245. The Nasdaq composite index added 69 points to 2,284.
Advancing issues topped decliners by a 3 to 1 margin. NYSE volume topped 6.4 billion shares. Nasdaq volume was 2.4 billion. Shares of Wells Fargo, the nation's fifth-largest bank, rose more than 30 percent just today. Its earnings topped analyst forecasts and it also announced an increase in its dividend.
Oil prices fell $4.14 to settle at $134.60 a barrel, following a more than $6 dollar drop yesterday.
Consumer prices surge in June, taking bite out of earning power
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Labor Department says June consumer prices surged 1.1 percent. Most of the increase was because of soaring energy prices.
It was inflation's second-fastest pace in 26 years. Energy prices rocketed upward by 6.6 percent, reflecting big gains for gasoline, home heating oil and natural gas.
Meanwhile, industrial output rose in June at the fastest pace in 11 months. The strength came from the end to an automotive production strike rather than any underlying boost to the economy. The increase followed two months of declines and was better than
had been expected.
Bernanke: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac in no danger of failing
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is offering some reassuring words about the nation's mortgage giants
-- saying Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in "no danger of failing."
Bernanke delivered that message today during his second day of briefings with lawmakers about the problems the nation's economy
faces. He told the House Financial Services Committee that the two are "adequately capitalized." But he also warned that the market's
lack of confidence is making it difficult for both companies to raise capital.
The Bush administration wants Congress to temporarily increase lines of credit, while the Fed has offered to let the companies
draw emergency loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac either hold or guarantee more than half of the nation's mortgages.
At the hearing committee chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts said current conditions make a second economic stimulus package necessary. But Bernanke countered that it was a "bit premature" to follow up on the 168 billion dollar plan that was enacted
earlier in the year, although he didn't entirely rule out that possibility.
FBI looking into IndyMac Bancorp
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press has learned that now-defunct IndyMac Bancorp is under investigation for possible
fraud in connection with home loans made to risky borrowers.
It was not immediately clear how long the FBI's probe of the bank has been ongoing. A law enforcement official says the
investigation is focused on the company - which was taken over last Friday by the FDIC - and not individuals who ran it. IndyMac Bank's assets were seized by federal regulators after the mortgage lender succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures.
Regulators say the bank is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history.
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