Sep 30, 2008 7:02 pm US/Eastern
Stocks Snap Back: Dow Surges Nearly 500 Points
NEW YORK (CBS News) ―
Wall Street snapped back Tuesday after its biggest sell-off in years amid growing expectations that lawmakers will salvage a $700 billion rescue plan for the financial sector. But the seized-up credit markets where businesses turn to raise money showed no sign of relief.
The recovery in stocks wasn't unexpected as carnage on Wall Street often attracts bargain hunters, though questions remain about how investors will proceed. Without a bailout plan in place to absorb soured mortgage debt and other bad loans from battered banks, investors are left wondering what might restore confidence in lending.
Major stock indexes were almost a sideshow during the session, with the credit markets as the main event. A key rate that banks charge to lend to one another shot higher, a tightening of the availability of credit that could cascade through the economy.
According to an industry survey, two-thirds of small business owners said they're feeling the impact of the credit crunch, reports CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason.
"There is no extra capital," Jay Cullimore, owner of Tropical Lighting, told CBS News. Cullimore needs that capital to buy holiday inventory for his Florida-based company.
"We are a little late on buying. And it's been a little tough to figure how much we can buy. So we're kind of playing it by ear because we really can't get the cash we're looking for."
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, still stunned from Monday's 778-point rout in the Dow Jones industrial average, warned that the government needs to approve a plan that will sweep away the fears that hobbled the credit markets. While U.S. political leaders have vowed to revisit the issue, the House isn't slated to meet again until Thursday.
"If it doesn't pass, then look out below," said Jason Weisberg, an NYSE trader for Seaport Securities. "It could get ugly."
Though the blue-chip index rose nearly 500 points by late afternoon, the main worry for traders is that a lack of a plan will make it nearly impossible for some companies to fund basic operations like making payroll. Participants in the credit market buy and sell debt that companies use to finance operations.
The benchmark London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, that banks charge to lend to one another, rose sharply Tuesday, making it more expensive and difficult for consumers and businesses to borrow money. In addition, credit card debt and more than half of adjustable-rate mortgages are tied to LIBOR, so an increase isn't welcome for many consumers.
LIBOR for 3-month dollar loans rose to 4.05 percent from 3.88 percent on Monday. LIBOR for 3-month euro loans, meanwhile, rose to 5.27 percent, from 5.22 percent Monday.
Critics of the bailout package believe that it was too costly and wouldn't have done enough to jump-start lending. To maintain pressure ahead of Thursday's likely vote, President Bush said in a statement from the White House early Tuesday that the damage to the economy will be "painful and lasting" unless Congress passes the bailout measure.
On Wall Street, many traders likely will proceed cautiously while they gauge prospects for resurrecting the bailout effort, which was backed by leaders of both parties.
"I'm not getting the sense that investors are going to be jumping in with both feet until there is some kind of resolution on the plan," said James Maguire, an NYSE floor trader with Christopher J. Forbes. "If there's a no vote, we're going to see a lower overall drift in stocks. It will be a slow bleed."
Traders also will likely focus on how the bloodshed will look on paper. Tuesday marks the final session of the third quarter - and what is typically the worst month for the stock market - so some portfolio managers might try to do what they can to dress up their performance. Others might simply wish to dump holdings in an unpopular corners of the market like the financial sector.
At the close, the Dow rose 485.21, or 4.68 percent, to 10,850.66 after falling nearly 7 percent on Monday to its lowest close in nearly three years. It was the largest point drop and 17th largest percentage drop in the blue chip index. The percentage decline was far less severe than the 20-plus-percent drops seen in the stock market crash of October 1987 and before the Great Depression.
Broader stock indicators also bounced higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index recovered 58.34, or 5.27 percent, to 1,164.73, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 98.60, or 4.97 percent, to 2,082.33.
The S&P fell 8.79 percent Monday, while the Nasdaq lost 9.14 percent.
The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill rose Tuesday to 0.89 percent from 0.14 percent late Monday. The yield fell Monday as investors clamored for the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.83 percent from 3.58 percent late Monday. The dollar rose against other major currencies and gold prices advanced.
While investors focused on what might come from Washington this week, Wall Street was cheered by several economic readings.
A private research group reported that consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in September. The Conference Board said Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 59.8 from a revised 58.5 in August; Wall Street had expected a reading of 55.5, according to Thomson/IFR. The reading, which doesn't reflect attitudes following Monday's steep stock market sell-off, remains near a 16-year low.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers' index, which measures business conditions across Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, came in at 56.7 compared with 57.9 in August - a second straight month of a strong reading.
Light, sweet crude rose $4.27 to settle at $100.64 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil fell more than $10 a barrel Monday as investors worried that a weaker economy would curtail demand.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 1.02 billion shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 22.86, or 3.32 percent, to 679.58.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 4.12 percent. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.76. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.74 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.41 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.99 percent.
Bush, Party Leaders Continue Pressing For Rescue Deal
Meanwhile, Congressional leaders, President Bush and the two rivals to succeed him rummaged through ideas new and old Tuesday, desperately seeking to change a dozen House members' votes and pass a multibillion-dollar economic rescue plan. At the top of the list: Raise confidence in the banking system by increasing the government's insurance.
Congressional leaders hope the changes under discussion - or a few others that could be in the mix - will be enough to persuade as few as six House Republicans and six Democrats to undo Monday's stunning vote that rejected a proposed $700 billion rescue.
CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante said that White House officials admitted they did not do a good job of convincing the public of the urgency and necessity for the $700 billion before yesterday's vote. Many lawmakers faced fierce opposition to the bill from their constituents.
Just a day after Republican Joe Barton helped kill the bailout bill in Congress, he returned home to his rural Texas district where he received support from his constituents, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
"I think we just ought to start over and come up with a plan that puts the taxpayer first," Barton told CBS News.
With the Capitol largely quiet because of the Jewish new year, no overall plan appeared to jell just yet.
Senate lawmakers are expected to vote on its own version of the rescue plan on Wednesday, presumably with a few changes to the failed House bill, and then give the House a new crack at the legislation before the week is out.
Still, the House is where the problems are, and leaders there were scrounging for ideas that might appeal to a few of the 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats who rejected the proposal on Monday.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told reporters, "I'm told a number of people who voted 'no' yesterday are having serious second thoughts about it." He added, however, "There's no game plan that's been decided."
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said it was time for all lawmakers to "act like grown-ups, if you will, and get this done for all of the people." He predicted a bill would pass this week, although the House, not the Senate, is the focus of the dispute.
The idea drawing the biggest support was to raise the federal deposit insurance limit, now $100,000 per account, to $250,000. Several officials, including presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama, endorsed the change.
So did the agency that runs the program.
Within hours of the candidates' separate statements, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairman Sheila Bair asked Congress for temporary authority to raise the limit by an unspecified amount. That could help ease a crisis of confidence in the banking system, Bair said.
She said the overwhelming majority of banks remain sound but an increase in the cap would help ease a crisis of confidence in the banking system as well as encourage banks to begin more lending.
Monday's House vote was a stinging setback to leaders of both parties and to Bush. The administration's proposal, still the heart of the legislation under consideration, would allow the government to buy bad mortgages and other deficient assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates of the plan believe, that would help lift a major weight off the already sputtering national economy.
But the proposal ignited furious responses from thousands of Americans, who flooded congressional telephones. The final House vote, 228-205 against the plan. Some lawmakers reported a shift in constituent calls pouring into their offices Tuesday after the record stock market decline.
Bush renewed his efforts, speaking with McCain and Obama and making another statement from the White House. "Congress must act," he declared.
Bush was talking about everyday Americans on Tuesday, not banks or other financial institutions. And no supporters were using the word "bailout."
The president noted that the maximum $700 billion in the proposed bailout was dwarfed by the $1 trillion in lost wealth that resulted from Monday's stock market decline.
"The dramatic drop in the stock market that we saw yesterday will have a direct impact on retirement accounts, pension funds and personal savings of millions of our citizens," Bush said. "And if our nation continues on this course, the economic damage will be painful and lasting."
"I recognize this is a difficult vote for members of Congress," Bush said. "But the reality is we are in an urgent situation and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act."
Republicans said the FDIC proposal might attract some conservatives who want to help small business owners and avert runs on banks by customers fearful of losing their savings.
Another possible change to the bill would modify "mark to market" accounting rules. Such rules require banks and other financial institutions to adjust the value of their assets to reflect current market prices, even if they plan to hold the assets for years.
Some House Republicans say current rules forced banks to report huge paper losses on mortgage-backed securities, which might have been avoided.
Liberal Democrats who opposed the bill are suggesting other changes. Their ideas include banning some forms of "short selling," in which investors bet that a stock's value will drop. Republicans showed little interest.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
