Wall Street Bulls Push Dow Up 72: Stock Market Gains Fueled by Optimism About Economy, \
NEW YORK, Feb. 11ÛÓStock prices surged ahead today in heavy trading, extending one of the strongest rallies in memory in a fresh signal that Wall Street believes the recession could be over by summer.</br></br>Propelled again by falling interest rates and the ongoing conviction that the United States and its allies will win the Persian Gulf War relatively easily, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 71.54 points, breaking through 2900 and coming to rest at 2902.23.</br></br>[The Tokyo Stock Exchange, taking its cue from the steep climb in the Dow, also rose sharply Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. The 225-issue Nikkei stock average rose 638.93 points, or 2.63 percent, to close the day at 24,935.01. The index rose 191.65 points last Friday.]</br></br>On Wall Street, the dayÛªs increase marked an important symbolic and psychological breakthrough because it lifted the average more than 20 percent above its recent low point in OctoberÛÓthe traditional benchmark for declaring a "bull market" in which the long-term trend for stocks is up.</br></br>"This thing's for real," said Christopher B. Pedersen, senior vice president and director of trading at Twenty-First Securities Corp., an investment firm here that manages about $1 billion. "It's sort of like a rocket explosion. We all put on our seat belts and go for the ride.Û