Marts rally on energy
US stocks rallied yesterday as investors rushed back into beaten-down shares, led by energy, which bore the brunt of the sell-off a day earlier.
The energy sector handily led the way up with the S&P energy index gaining 4.3 percent.
Shares of Halliburton rose 12 percent after executives said the offshore oil industry had plenty of work even as the Obama administration imposed a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling.
While investors still are cautious about the outlook for energy stocks, “the genuine bloodbath in the sector yesterday certainly seems to have drawn in some fundamental value seekers,” said Craig Peckham, equity trading strategist at Jefferies & Company in New York.
US-listed shares of BP Plc climbed 3.1 percent to $37.66 despite the company hitting a snag in its latest effort to halt the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The stock is down close to 38 percent since the rig explosion on April 20.
Major automakers posted double-digit US sales gains in May from a year earlier. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 225.52 points, or 2.25 percent, to 10,249.54. The Standard Poor’s 500 Index rose 27.67 points, or 2.58 percent, to 1,098.38. The Nasdaq climbed 58.74 points, or 2.64 percent, to 2,281.07.