* Auto bailout bolsters hopes on ability to curb recession
* Large-cap tech companies gain, pulling up Nasdaq
* Consumer confidence, home prices at record lows
* Dow, S&P up 1.4 pct; Nasdaq up 1.6 pct
* For up to the minute market news, please click on
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(Updates to midday, changes byline)
By Deepa Seetharaman
NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday
after the government expanded its bailout of the auto industry,
bolstering hopes that lawmakers could curb the severity of the
year-old recession.
The Bush Administration said late Monday it would extend an
additional $1 billion loan to General Motors Corp <GM.N> and
take a $5 billion stake in the automaker's financing arm, GMAC,
in the latest move to ease the credit crisis. On Tuesday, GMAC
announced easier financing terms for car and truck buyers. For
details, see []
Shares of both GM and rival Ford Motor Corp <F.N> gained on
the news.
The measure is "helping soften the blow related to the
economic contraction," said Jason Ronovech, portfolio manager
for Paradigm Capital Management Inc based in Albany, New York.
"It provides hope that the government willing to do
whatever it takes to help the economy."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> gained 117.72
points, or 1.39 percent, at 8,601.65. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> added 11.87 points, or 1.37 percent, at 881.29.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose 24.64 points, or 1.63
percent, at 1,534.96.
The Nasdaq was boosted by shares of big-cap technology
companies that have larger stores of cash and are seen as
better positioned to weather the economic storm.
Shares of Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O>, the wireless chip maker,
rose 2.2 percent to $34.84, while software maker Oracle Corp
<ORCL.O> gained 3 percent to $17.73. International Business
Machines Corp <IBM.N> topped the Dow, rising nearly 2 percent
to $82.81.
Investors shrugged off a spate of economic reports that
signaled a deepening recession. Prices of single-family homes
plunged a record 18 percent in October, while consumer
confidence also fell to a record low. []
Stocks have had difficulty mounting a significant year-end
rally. The broad S&P 500 is down 40 percent for 2008, making it
one of the worst years ever.
To stave off the worst effects of the recession, U.S.
lawmakers have extended aid to a slew of companies, most
recently to automakers GM and privately held Chrysler LLC.
Earlier this month, the government agreed to extend a $17.5
billion lifeline to head off a potential collapse of the two
companies that might have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs
and further hurt the beleaguered economy.
GM rose 4.5 percent to $3.76, while Ford added 2.7 percent
to $2.28.
Rohm & Haas <ROH.N> jumped 10 percent to $58.74 after the
Financial Times reported Dow Chemical <DOW.N> could tap a $13
billion bridge loan or renegotiate the price to salvage its $15
billion takeover of the company.
The deal was threatened after Kuwait decided to scrap a
joint venture with Dow Chemical over the weekend, depriving Dow
Chemical of financing it planned to use for the acquisition.
Dow edged up 0.5 percent to $15.40.
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
