(Updates to close)
By Steven C. Johnson
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday
as OPEC's move to shore up oil prices boosted energy shares and
Texas Instruments' outlook soothed fear about technology
spending even as worries persisted about the health of the
banking sector.
The broader market's gains came a day after the S&P 500
posted its biggest decline in a year and a half.
Energy shares rose as OPEC said it would cut production,
which was seen as an attempt to halt a recent sharp slide in
the price of oil <CLc1>. Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> rose nearly 3
percent and was the top boost for the S&P.
Technology shares also rose on relief that chip maker Texas
Instruments <TXN.N> did not cut its earnings outlook after a
spate of recent warnings on consumers' cell phone spending.
Financial shares, however, were broadly lower after Lehman
Brothers <LEH.N> posted an unexpectedly large quarterly loss on
huge mortgage-related write-downs and failed to announce any
firm deals to raise desperately needed capital. Shares of
Lehman, the No. 4 U.S. investment bank, sank 6.9 percent,
extending Tuesday's 45 percent slide.
Meanwhile, shares of Washington Mutual <WM.N> sank to a
17-year low on fears that the savings and loan, which is under
special regulatory supervision, won't find a buyer or raise
enough capital to offset soaring mortgage losses. Shares closed
down nearly 30 percent at $2.32 and were second biggest loser
on the New York Stock Exchange [].
"The market still has an acute case of the financial
jitters but investors have concluded that we're not going off
the edge of Niagara Falls," said Fred Dickson, market
strategist and director of retail at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake
Oswego, Oregon.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 38.19
points, or 0.34 percent, at 11,268.92. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 7.53 points, or 0.61 percent, at
1,232.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 18.89
points, or 0.85 percent, at 2,228.70.
Texas Instruments shares rose 0.6 percent to $21.85. The
Philadelphia Stock Exchange index of semiconductors <.SOXX> was
up 0.8 percent.
Tech bellwether International Business Machines <IBM.N>
climbed 2.6 percent to $118.04 and led gains on the Dow.
Investors also snapped up energy shares on the view that
they now look more attractive after having fallen sharply in
recent months. Shares of Conoco Phillips <COP.N> rose 5.2
percent to $71.87. Exxon Mobil added 2.7 percent to $75.25.
"My gut is there are good values there, even with the price
of oil around $100 a barrel," said Bobby Harrington, head of
block trading at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut.
After hitting a record high above $147 a barrel in July,
crude has come down quickly, last trading below $103. OPEC's
move to cut supplies was seen as an attempt to prevent prices
from sliding much further.
Among financials, Lehman shares closed down at $7.25, after
falling earlier to an almost 10-year low of $6.93.
Lehman said it would sell a majority stake in its
investment management division, spin off commercial real estate
assets, and slash its annual dividend. For details, see
[].
But Moody's Investors Service said on Wednesday it was
placing the bank's credit rating on review. with the direction
of the rating uncertain.
Shares of Wachovia Corp <WB.N> were down 2.5 percent at
$15.84 while Merrill Lynch <MER.N> fell 3.8 percent to $23.81.
American International Group <AIG.N>, the world's biggest
insurer, which also has substantial exposure to the mortgage
market, lost 4.7 percent to end at $17.50.
The S&P financial index ended down 0.7 percent.
About 1.55 billion shares changed hands on the New York
Stock Exchange on Wednesday, below last year's estimated daily
average of roughly 1.90 billion. On Nasdaq, about 2.27 billion
shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.17
billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by about 1.2 to
1 while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by about 1.3 to
1.
(Additional reporting by Richard Leong and Al Yoon; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
