Dow Up 485 in Recovery Rally

Stocks surged toward the end of today’s session to recover much of yesterday’s losses, but still finished September down, the Wall Street Journal reports. The markets rallied on confidence that lawmakers would reach agreement on a bailout plan by week’s end, with the Dow up 485.21 at 10,850.66. The Nasdaq climbed 98.60 to 2,082.33, and the S&P 500 gained 58.35 to close at 1,164.74.

Investors ignored poor reports on home prices and regional manufacturing as they stepped in to claim bargains—beleaguered WaMu gained nearly 150%. With a decent probability of a bailout passing, “the risk of being on the sidelines when it goes through is probably as bad as anything you face on the downside at this point," explained one strategist.

• For the month, the Dow was off 6%, the Nasdaq lost 12%, and S&P 500 fell 9

(More NASDAQ stories.)