Stocks started off in the right direction this morning, buoyed by the White House’s rollout of its auto rescue plan. The Dow rose 67 points, while the S&P and Nasdaq added 0.7% and 1.6% respectively, the Wall Street Journal reports. President Bush announced a $17.4 billion loan designed to prevent bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler, removing a cloud that had darkened the market yesterday.
GM shares bounced 12.6% on the news, while Ford's climbed 5.6%. Other big movers included Oracle and Research In Motion, each of which issued better-than-expected forecasts, and saw shares rise 6.4% and 6.2% respectively in response. (More stock market stories.)