Stocks Roar Back as Oil Prices Retreat
Stocks soared Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrials gaining more than 128 points as a sharp drop in oil prices and a reassuring assessment of the economy helped investors overcome their disappointment over Intel's earnings and troubling sales forecasts.</br></br>Intel's profits and a warning of slow fourth-quarter sales rattled investors who had hoped for more bullish forecasts from corporate America. But the market drew solace late in the day from the Federal Reserve, which in its regular "beige book" breakdown of the economy said many parts of the country are still seeing decent growth despite high energy prices.</br></br>Stocks also got a boost from falling crude oil futures after the Energy Department reported larger-than-expected inventories of oil, gasoline and heating oil.</br></br>The Dow rose 128.87, or 1.3 percent, to 10,414.13. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed 17.62, or 1.5 percent, to 1195.76. The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index gained 35.24, or 1.7 percent, to 2091.24.</br></br>The Commerce Department said new housing construction rose to an annualized rate of 2.108 million units, far greater than the 1.975 million economists expected.