Dow jumps more than 400 points

Wall Street finally found a reason for a huge rally today, after the Federal Reserve said it plans to pump 200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up more than 416 points, its biggest one-day point gain since July 2002.

The Fed – acting in concert with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank – agreed to loan investment banks money in exchange for debt, including slumping mortgage-backed securities.

The Dow rose 416.66, or 3.55%, to 12,156.81.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 47.28, or 3.71%, to 1,320.65, while the Nasdaq composite index surged 86.42, or 3.98%, to 2,255.76.