Stocks posted their biggest gains in more than six weeks yesterday after technology bellwether Cisco Systems said business was stabilising, and strong sales of new homes fanned optimism that consumers were still propping up the US economy.
Lucent Technologies also offered a ray of hope when the telecom equipment maker said it expected the slammed communications equipment market to rebound in 2003.
Lucent and Cisco shares, the most actively traded US stocks, both rose and spurred a rally in related tech stocks.
The technology-laced Nasdaq index gained 73.75 points, or 4 per cent, to close at 1,916.72. That's the biggest one-day gain since July 12th, when it surged 5.26 per cent, according to research firm RiskMetrics Group.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 194.02 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 10,423.17 -- also its biggest gain since July 12th. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 22.83 points, or 1.96 per cent, at 1,184.92.
