Stocks rallied ahead of yesterday’s Florida Supreme court decision, as investors shrugged off weakness in the technology market and focused on the prospect of lower interest rates.
The Nasdaq Composite Index surged 164.77 to 2,917.43 – a gain of 6 percent.
The Dow Jones industrials tacked on 95.55 to 10,712.91 – up about 1 percent.
And the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 26.34 to 1,369.89, up 2 percent.
Intel announced late Thursday that massive cancellations of chip orders would cause it to miss its quarterly sales targets. It was just the latest technology company to report a slowdown in business, joining Apple Computer and Gateway.
But investors apparently decided that technology stocks had been punished enough and sent them soaring back up.
The question now is what the continued election uncertainty will do to the markets next.
Standard & Poor’s 500 futures were trading lower on Friday afternoon, indicating that the market would open lower on Monday.
But some analysts say any disruption will be temporary, because investors will focus instead on Alan Greenspan’s recent comments that he is ready to lower interest rates if necessary.