Bulls make comeback on Wall Street

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks soared Tuesday as a rebound in overseas markets reassured investors following last week's global selloff, pushing the Dow industrials to their biggest gain in more than eight months.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 157 points, or 1.3 percent, according to early tallies. It was the biggest point gain since the 30-share Dow jumped 212 points on July 19, 2006.

The broader S&P 500 index gained 1.5 percent, and the tech-fueled Nasdaq composite gained 1.9 percent. The Russell 2000 small-cap index gained 2.5 percent.

Stocks rallied steadily all day, buoyed by strength in China and news of corporate takeover deals, notably Citigroup's $10 billion bid for Nikko Cordial, Japan's third-largest securities company.

Treasury prices slipped while the dollar gained against the euro and the yen. Oil and gold prices rose.

Here's a look at what was moving near the close.

Stocks soared Tuesday for the first time since the global selloff began brewing as markets rebounded overseas and gave investors hope that the worst of the selling was over, at least for now.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 156.94 to 12,207.35, Charts) jumped about 1.4 percent with less than an hour left in the session. The broader S&P 500 (up 21.27 to 1,395.39, Charts) index gained 1.4 percent. Both blue-chip averages recovered more than they'd declined on Monday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq (up 44.46 to 2,385.14, Charts) composite added 2 percent, also more than erasing Monday's losses.

"I think it's a sign we're stabilizing," said Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management. "The market will be choppy for a couple of weeks. There could be a catalyst to make it move to the upside - possibly the jobs report Friday."

Stocks sank Monday - following last week's big selloff - as investors mulled weak overseas markets and further signs of trouble in the subprime mortgage lending business.

But such concerns were set aside early Tuesday, with investors taking comfort in solid gains overseas and some bullish corporate news.

Markets in Europe gained at midday, bouncing back from several down sessions. In addition, markets in Asia rose as the yen fell after several up days.

Asian markets have been tumbling recently as the yen has been surging, with investors closing out carry trades, or bets on riskier assets, bought by borrowing in the currencies of countries with low interest rates, such as Japan.

In currency trading, the dollar rallied against the yen and edged higher versus the euro.

In deals news, Citigroup (Charts) launched a $10.7 billion takeover bid for Nikko Cordial, a scandal-plagued Japanese brokerage that Citigroup already has a 5 percent stake in.

Citigroup shares rose about 1 percent, and other financial shares bounced back as well, including Bear Stearns (up $4.69 to $149.19, Charts), Lehman Bros (up $3.07 to $74.19, Charts) and Goldman Sachs (up $7.30 to $197.30, Charts).

The Amex Securities Broker/Dealer (Charts) index rose 2.8 percent.

A variety of subprime mortgage lenders bounced back, after stumbling on Monday.

New Century Financial (up $0.53 to $5.09, Charts), NovaStar Financial (up $0.18 to $4.46, Charts), Accredited Home Lenders (up $1.52 to $17.58, Charts) and Fremont General (up $0.90 to $6.79, Charts) all posted big gains.

Google (up $16.61 to $457.55, Charts) rose 2 percent after it said at a tech conference that it will be working more closely with Apple (up $1.87 to $88.19, Charts).

Microsoft and Citigroup are both Dow components. Overall, 29 out of 30 Dow components rose.

Other standouts included Hewlett-Packard (up $0.68 to $39.43, Charts), IBM (up $2.02 to $93.83, Charts), Altria (up $2.24 to $84.45, Charts), Wal-Mart Stores (up $0.57 to $48.04, Charts) and Alcoa (up $0.64 to $32.37, Charts).

Altria rose on a Deutsche Bank upgrade, Reuters reported.

Gold, silver, aluminum, steel, natural gas and oil services stocks all bounced back.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners trounced losers by almost 5 to 1 on volume of 1.4 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by almost four to one on volume of 1.68 billion shares.

A morning report showed that U.S. labor productivity was revised down in the fourth quarter, as expected. Unit labor costs, the report's inflation component, was revised upward.

A separate report showed that factory orders fell a steeper-than-expected 5.6 percent in January after rising 2.6 percent in December.

Investors also took in comments from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said the housing sector slowdown and problems with subprime lenders won't have a big impact on the financial sector or the economy.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.53 percent from 4.50 percent late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery rose 62 cents to settle at $60.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for April delivery rose $6.20 to $645.40 an ounce.

The big bet that could melt Wall Street

More on the markets

More on investing