Dow Rise Is Biggest In Three Months
Stock-market bulls barreled through fears of $100 oil, seizing instead on encouraging employment and service-sector numbers to push the market to its biggest one-day gain in three months.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 191.40 points, or 1.59%, to 12258.20. Investors sold off gold for the first session in four, and Treasurys fell, lifting yields to a two-week high. Yields rise when prices fall.</br></br>The stock gains helped the Dow recover some of the losses incurred last week, when the blue-chip index dropped more than 260 points, its worst week since August.</br></br>That drop was driven by worries that tensions in Libya, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world would push oil prices higher, fueling inflation and squelching the U.S. economic recovery. It also coincided with a consensus among investors that the market was due for a pullback after the powerful stock rally since late August.</br></br>But many investors are starting to believe the U.S. economic recovery is resilient enough to withstand triple-digit oil prices, especially with the Federal Reserve still propping up the economy. Crude oil edged 0.3% lower to $101.91 a barrel in New York Mercantile Exchange trading on Thursday, after jumping from less than $90 just two weeks ago.