Stocks rose at the open today, as investors saw signs the credit markets are easing, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow rose 104 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P saw modest 1.5% and 1.2% bumps, respectively. Stocks in Europe and Asia generally rose as well. We could be “near the end of a very extreme panic,” one analyst said said, thanks mainly to government action.
The overnight lending rate tumbled to 1.5125% from Friday’s 1.66875%, bringing it within a whisker of the Fed’s 1.5% target. Oil rose $1.68, to $73.81 a barrel. Among US stocks, AIG rose 8.1% pre-market on reports that Prudential PLC might buy its Asian operations, while NRG energy jumped 27% on reports Exelon was attempting to buy it for $6.2 billion. (More markets stories.)