US stocks rose for the first day in four. Financial shares such as Citigroup Inc led the advance as 10 securities firms, including its Salomon Smith Barney unit, reached a US$1.4 billion accord to settle claims that their research misled investors.
"A thorn in the side of the industry has been taken out," said Michael Santelli, who helps oversee US$25 billion at National City Investment Management in Cleveland. The settlement "does help confidence" in Wall Street firms. Santelli said he's holding on to shares of Morgan Stanley on behalf of clients.
Comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who said the economy is emerging from a "soft patch," contributed to the gains by boosting expectations that economic growth will shore up corporate profits.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 11.57, or 1.3 percent, to 895.82. All 10 of its industry groups advanced, and financial companies accounted for almost a third of the gain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 147.21, or 1.8 percent, to 8,512.01. The NASDAQ Composite Index advanced 9.51, or 0.7 percent, to 1,363.61.
Benchmark indexes also recorded their first weekly gains this month. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent, the Dow 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ 0.1 percent.
Some 1.75 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the most in a month. The increase reflected trading that was tied to the expiration of stock-index futures, index options and options on individual stocks.
The first batch of single-stock futures contracts on US exchanges expired Friday as well, resulting in what some investors have dubbed "quadruple witching." Previous quarterly expirations were known as "triple witching" days.
Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the NYSE while four advanced for every three that declined on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Stocks benefited from an easing of concern that an attack on Iraq may be imminent. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US is consulting with the UN on how to compel Iraq to disarm.
Citigroup, the largest financial services company, rose US$1.14 to US$38.14. Morgan Stanley rallied US$1.74 to US$42.04 and Merrill Lynch & Co. advanced US$0.30 to US$40.15.
The 10 securities firms agreed to pay as much as US$1.4 billion to settle claims their stock recommendations were compromised by a desire to win investment-banking contracts.
The agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other regulators requires the firms to pay fines and restitution to investors, and to fund independent research for their customers.
JP Morgan Chase gained US$1.54 to US$24.87, Goldman Sachs Group Inc rose US$1.56 to US$71.86, Bear Stearns Cos climbed US$1.38 to US$61.83, and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc rose US$1.27 to US$56.35.
Also involved in the settlement were Credit Suisse Group's Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Paine Webber Group Inc.
Credit Suisse's US shares rose US$0.15 to US$21.75; Deutsche Bank's rose US$0.50 to US$47.39; and UBS's added US$0.17 to US$49.60.
Nike Inc, the biggest maker of athletic shoes, rose US$3.57 to US$45.10. Its fiscal second-quarter net income climbed to US$0.57 a share from US$0.48 a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by First Call had forecast an average of US$0.56. Smaller rival Reebok International Ltd jumped US$1.92 to US$29.50.
Nike also said Foot Locker Inc, its largest US distributor won't receive some models, including Air Jordans, because it is allocating more shelf space to shoes that cost less than US$100.
Foot Locker lost US$1.19 to US$10.48. Credit Suisse First Boston Inc analyst Richard Baum said Nike's decision is "a major setback" for the chain. Nike shoes historically make up about half of Foot Locker's sales, Baum said. He cut Foot Locker to "neutral" from "outperform."
3M Co gained US$3.83 to US$124.13, adding the most to the Dow. The maker of products such as circuitry, television parts and masking tape expects growth in Asia from sales of optical products and may consider splitting its stock if the economy improves, CEO James McNerney said.
SBC Communications Inc rose US$0.52 to $28.21, BellSouth Corp gained US$0.48 to US$26.74 and Verizon Communications Inc climbed US$1.38 to US$40.17. SBC Communications, the second-biggest local-telephone company, won regulatory approval to sell long- distance services in California.
BellSouth, the third-largest local carrier, got permission to provide long-distance service in Florida and Tennessee. Verizon this week asked for permission to offer long-distance service in Maryland, West Virginia and Washington.
Halliburton Co lost US$0.42 to US$19.08. The company became the target of an SEC probe into accounting for cost overruns on construction jobs beginning in 1998. US Vice President Dick Cheney ran the company at that time.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained