US stock rally encouraging

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :8/20/2008 6:46:48 AM

A rise in American stocks has prompted optimism among investors following a rally from technology firms.

Hewlett-Packard spurred a technology company rally and the mortgage financier Fanny Mae is seemingly getting record new business.

Hewlett-Packard, the largest personal-computer maker, rose 5.3 percent for the biggest gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after demand for notebooks and orders in Europe and Asia spurred profit and sales.

Elsewhere, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Bank of America Corp and American International Group Inc gained four percent on speculation mortgage losses will abate.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index increased 6.85 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,273.54 at 11:28 a.m. in New York.

The Dow average added 66.03, or 0.6 percent, to 11,414.58, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 17.80, or 0.8 percent, to 2,402.16. Two stocks rose for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.