Wall Street is gearing up for a strong open today as investors venture back to the market for undervalued stocks after a stunning sell-off.
Last week, the first full week of trading since the attacks shattered records with its frenzied selling. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average skidded 1,370 points, chalking up its biggest weekly loss since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Wall Street experts blamed much of the selling on raw emotion, but strategists pointed to an oversold market as investors ignored calls for a patriotic rally and tossed major stock gauges about 15 per cent lower.
Equity futures pointed to gains of 2-3 per cent as Wall Street appeared to regain some confidence. December futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 index added 18.70 points to 991.80.
December futures for the Nasdaq 100 climbed 35 to 1,172, and December futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 171 points to 8,439.
But the prospect of a protracted war is aggravating worries over the economic outlook for the US. A poll of leading Wall Street firms on Friday concluded the US economy has slipped into a recession and that growth will not resume until the first half of 2002.
The Dow fell 140.40 points, or 1.68 per cent, to close at 8,235.81 on Friday, after initially dropping more than 3 per cent.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index sank 18.74 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 965.80. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 47.74 points, or 3.25 per cent, to 1,423.19.