Wall Street Stocks Trade Up On Higher September Economic Indicators

October 20, 2008 10:57 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Wall Street stocks were advancing Monday as investors gain confidence on reports that government will prevent the economy from further slumping into recession.

At 10:44 a.m. EDT in New York, S&P index were trading up by 16.60 points or 1.76 percent at 957.15 points, NASDAQ index was moving up by 8.26 points or 0.48 percent at 1,719.55 points,

While, the Dow was trading up at 164.95 points or 1.86 percent at 9,017.17 points.

Oil futures rebounded on Monday as a light, sweet barrel for October delivery was trading up by $2.12 to $74.25 a barrel in electronic trading.

On Friday, the contract retreated and closed above $70-a-barrel mark to close at $71.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors will look closely at the auto sector as General Motors Corp. (GM) has been talking to merge with Chrysler LLC as Detroit's big two automakers are struggling to raise capital and to shore up their financial statements amid dropping auto sales.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying before the House Budget Committee on the economic outlook and financial markets.

At the same time, the Conference Board released its information on leading economic indicators for the month of September. The data showed that the U.S. economy increased by 0.3 percent, while the market analysts had expected the report to show a drop of 0.3 percent.

Exelon Corp. gained on Monday after the operator of nuclear power plants made a takeover bid to purchase NRG Energy Inc. for $6.2 billion. Shares of Exelon gained by 2.6 percent.

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 102.25 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia on Monday, after it closed at 101.39 yen late Friday in New York.