Stocks climb, not slide as predicted by 12000 in Bursa Chat

NEW YORK (AP) -- This time, the stock market had a late-day rally. Most stocks surged in the final hour of trading Tuesday to give the Dow Jones industrials a gain of 123 points. That ended a two-day slump that sent the Dow down nearly 440 to a seven-month low.

The market's rebound was choppy although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke set the tone for the day by saying he didn't expect the economy to go back into recession. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose, but the Nasdaq composite index slipped as chipmakers fell on downbeat analyst comments.

Like the last two days, most of the action was in the last hour. Tuesday, however, it was buying that accelerated. The Dow was up only about 16 points shortly after 3 p.m., then soared 107 points in the final 43 minutes of trading.

As was also the case Monday, there was no one catalyst for the late move. But the late rally itself drew buyers who had waited to see whether stocks would have another late-day slide. And computer programs also kicked in, with rising stocks triggering more buying -- the reverse of the computer selling seen the last two days.

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