Wall Street barrelled higher Monday for the second straight session, this time in a relief rally over the government’s plan to bail out Citigroup Inc. – a move it hopes will help quiet some of the uncertainty hounding the financial sector and the overall economy.

Wall Street capped another difficult week with steep losses today, sending the major indexes to their lowest levels in more than five years as markets around the world skidded lower on the belief that a punishing economic recession is at hand.