Late Rally Takes U.S. Markets Higher

New York, NY (AHN) - U.S. markets recovered from a massive mid-day sell off with a strong rally in the final hour of trading. All three major indices finished with gains.

The late rally was remotely related to the removal of Anheuser Busch from the S&P 500 today. The brewer was officially acquired by InBev for $52 billion. Funds managers who track the S&P 500 needed to replace their Anheuser positions by purchasing other S&P 500 issues.

The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 151 points or 1.8 percent. 20 of 30 Dow components advanced today with Hewlett Packard leading the way. Shares of the PC maker jumped 14.5 percent after the company offered a strong earnings outlook for 2009.

The S&P 500 added 8 points or 1 percent. All ten major economic sectors were trading lower with just an hour left in the trading day; however the late rally took seven of the economic sectors higher for the session.

Tech managed to squeeze out a small gain with the Nasdaq Composite adding 1 point or 0.1 percent gain. The semiconductor stocks weighed on tech for a consecutive day as the sector finished nearly 2 percent lower on Tuesday.

Crude oil fell 23 cents a barrel to settle at $54.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

As for corporate news, Yahoo shares rose 8.6 percent after the company said CEO Jerry Yang would step down.

Shares of Saks fall after the retailer missed third quarter earnings estimates. Home Depot shares rose 3.5 percent after the company reported a 31 percent decline in third quarter earnings, which beat estimates for a deepen decline.

On the economic front, the Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 2.8 percent in October from last month. Economists were expecting a 1.9 percent decline.

Wednesday's session will see the release of the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) along with housing starts for October.