US stocks rally
Wall Street resumed its fourth-quarter rally today, pushing the Dow Jones industrials to its first close above 12,400 after a series of strong company earnings and a drop in unemployment claims revived investors’ confidence in the economy.
The market, which stalled earlier this week on interest rate and economic concerns, was reinvigorated by robust quarterly profits from Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers Holdings, and Costco Wholesale Corporation, as well as a healthy outlooks from Citigroup and Honeywell International.
