Stocks Rally After New Treasury Pick Announced | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Stocks Rally After New Treasury Pick Announced

Good news on Wall Street for a change, per Bloomberg:

U.S. stocks rallied and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rebounded from an 11-year low after President-elect Barack Obama picked New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner to head the Treasury. "This news could really give the stock market a badly needed shot in the arm," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, wrote in an e-mail to clients. Geithner is a "fantastic choice to help lead the financial markets out of the wilderness."

Citigroup Inc. pared a 35 percent slide and JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed a 16 percent tumble in the final hour as a Democratic aide said Obama will name Geithner to replace Henry Paulson. National-Oilwell Varco Inc. and Chesapeake Energy jumped more than 20 percent as oil rose for the first time in six days. The rally came after this week's rout dragged the S&P 500's price-to-earnings valuation to the cheapest since 1995.

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