Dow Gains 303 Points; Oil Drops

Fannie's losses don't phase market

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 8, 2008 3:41 PM CDT

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Dow Gains 303 Points; Oil Drops — Traders gather at a post waiting for a stock to open on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this undated file photo. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A big rally topped a rollercoaster week today as the markets surged on a drop in oil of nearly $5 a barrel, MarketWatch reports. The Dow gained 302.89 points to close at 11,734.32, the Nasdaq rose 58.37 to 2,414.10, and the S&P 500 gained 30.25 to 1,296.32.

The markets shrugged off worse-than-expected quarterly losses from Fannie Mae, probably because of oil’s big swoon to $115.20 a barrel, a 3-month low. "The market has shown an incredible ability to absorb bad news lately," said Schaeffer Investment’s CEO. "But what I'd really like to see now is an across-the-board rally without the catalyst of lower oil prices."
(More Dow Jones stories.)

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