The NASDAQ scored its largest surge of the year, gaining 2.32 percent. Not only is this largest gain since last November, but the NASDAQ had only four days in all of 2007 with a stronger close.
The DJIA and the S&P500 advances represent similar strength, achieving the fourth largest gain in the 29 trading days of 2008. Moreover, these indices finally managed to put together three consecutive up ticks, the first such run since last December.
To put these results in perspective, both the DJIA and the NASDAQ increases are in the 90th percentile: only 10 percent of their closes since January 2000 exceed todays performance.
Two weeks ago, when these indices were hit by substantial losses, it was on a Tuesday; and while substantial reverses are associated with the second trading day of the week, it should be remembered that todays strength occurred on a Tuesday.
DJIA 1.45 percent
NASDAQ 2.32 percent
S&P500 1.36 percent