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Stocks surge on Fed nod, Halliburton

Energy shares rallied 11%. Dow up 413. New stimulus idea praised.

Stock prices soared yesterday, adding to last week's 4.75 percent jump in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The day's gains came after Halliburton Co.'s profit topped estimates, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke endorsed an economic-stimulus package, and when the White House said President Bush would consider such a package.

Shares of Halliburton, the world's second-largest provider of services for oil fields, jumped 13.91 percent to $20.80, while Exxon Mobil Corp. added 10.21 percent to $74.99.

Energy companies, the industry with the highest estimated earnings growth this year, led the 30 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 index from Aug. 31 to Oct. 10. The group rallied 11 percent yesterday.

"You've got significant rebound capability on these stocks," Wayne Wilbanks, chief investment officer at Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas, said of energy shares. "They took the brunt of the forced hedge fund selling. There's no other way to explain Halliburton going from $33 to $16 in three weeks."

The S&P 500 rose 44.85, or 4.77 percent, to 985.40. The Dow industrials, which last week gained the most in five years, surged 413.21, or 4.67 percent, to 9,265.43. The Nasdaq composite index rose 58.74, or 3.43 percent, to 1,770.03. More than five stocks advanced for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rallied at least 2.8 percent as a retreat in money-market rates also boosted stocks.

The benchmark indexes extended gains after the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators unexpectedly rose in September and as Bernanke said lawmakers should consider new measures to improve access to credit for consumers, home buyers and businesses.

Halliburton shares jumped $2.54 in yesterday's trading. Excluding an acquisition charge and $693 million in costs related to redemption of convertible bonds, per-share profit was 76 cents, 2 cents higher than the average of 24 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

"Whenever somebody reports numbers that exceed expectations, that's a positive not only for the individual stock but the broader market," said Dean Gulis of Loomis, Sayles & Co. L.P. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Exxon gained $6.95. Crude oil for November delivery climbed $2.40 to $74.25 a barrel in New York on speculation that, to halt a 50 percent slide in prices from July's record, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would cut production at its meeting Friday.

Gasoline prices continued their spiral downward yesterday, AAA Mid-Atlantic said. Nationally, the average fell 3 cents to $2.92 a gallon. In Philadelphia and the four suburban counties in Pennsylvania, the average pump price fell 2 cents to $2.93 a gallon, and it dropped two cents in the three suburban South Jersey counties to $2.70.