Dow up more than 100 points

Wall Street rallied for a third session in a row today, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 100 points, after Goldman Sachs reported results that beat expectations and investors grew more confident that the recent drop in crude oil prices would boost consumer spending.

Investors saw positive momentum from financial services stocks after Goldman Sachs reported better-than-expected results during the third quarter, although profits fell as its trading business slowed.

Not only did that bode well for rival investment banks due to report this week, but also signalled that companies have not pulled back from going to the markets with equity deals.

“So far, September is not acting all that bad and basically what we’re seeing is a range-bound market which means that investor appetite for stocks isn’t diminishing,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at SW Bach & Co.

The rally helped lift the Dow to a four-month high and the Nasdaq composite index and Standard & Poor’s 500 index to three-month highs.

The Dow rose 101.25, or 0.89%, to 11,498.09, while the S&P 500 was up 13.57 or 1.04%, at 1,313.11. The Nasdaq composite index rose 42.57, or 1.96%, to end the day on 2,215.82.

Oil prices fell for the seventh day in a row, falling 1.85 per barrel to 63.76 on the New York Mercantile Exchange – the lowest close for crude since late March.