Stocks shoot higher on Citigroup profit news
Tuesday March 10, 11:53 am ET
By Sara Lepro, AP Business Writer
Stocks rally after Citi says operating at profit, Bernanke calls for bank reform
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is rallying on a dose of good news from Citigroup Inc.
Financial stocks are leading stocks higher after the troubled bank said it had operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. The rally is the market's first big move in weeks following a collapse that has left the major indexes at their lowest point in more than a decade.
Still, analysts say this advance is likely a bear market rally rather than a turning point for stocks. They believe the financial industry and the overall economy are still too weak for Wall Street to sustain a big advance.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 255 points at 6,802. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 30 at 706, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 61 at 1,330.