Attracted by sharply corrected prices of technology stocks, investors on Wednesday raised the values of stock indices on Wall Street with their purchases, with the Nasdaq index achieving its largest value jump in over a year.
Its value rose by 2.5 percent or 62.52 points, to 2,563 points, marking its best daily performance since June 29, 2006. Furthermore, the New York Dow Jones index increased by 1.9 percent, to 13,289 points. The S&P index strengthened by 2.2 percent, to 1,464 points.
The surge in prices occurred after some investors, who had bet the day before that stock prices would sharply fall due to a faltering credit market and its impact on the broader economy, changed their positions. Among the biggest gainers was the stock of technology company Apple, which strengthened by 5.7 percent after analysts at Goldman Sachs recommended their purchase as they are “almost certain” to launch new iPods on September 5. This also spurred purchases of other technology stocks, with IBM’s stock rising by 2.3 percent.
A letter from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in which he stated that the Fed is ready to act as needed to ensure that problems in the credit market do not have effects on the broader economy, strengthened investors’ speculation that interest rates in the U.S. will be lowered.
