Stocks Up on Rate Cut Hopes

Investors keep their eye on tomorrow's Fed actions

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 10, 2007 3:56 PM CST

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Stocks Up on Rate Cut Hopes — Jason Blatt, right, listens to a specialist as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Wall Street advanced Monday as expectations for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve and an uptick in pending home sales helped offset concerns about another round of subprime... (Associated Press)

Stocks kept climbing today as investors held out for a nearly certain rate cut at tomorrow's Fed meeting. A positive housing report and mostly good news from financials also helped keep things bullish. "Everybody is paying attention to tomorrow's rate" cut, a trader told the Wall Street Journal. The Dow was up 101.45 to 13,727.03, the Nasdaq rose 12.79 to 2,718.95, and the S&P 500 climbed 11.3 to 1,515.96.

The bite of the credit crunch could still be felt today, though, as USB announced major subprime-related write-downs. And experts warn that today's sunny housing numbers don't necessarily represent a trend. "In our view it would be a great mistake to extrapolate from the latest couple of months' numbers," says one economist. (More stock market stories.)

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