* U.S. stocks in late-rally on reports of Geithner pick
* Dollar surges vs yen, bond yields rise off historic lows
* Oil rises 1 pct, gold jumps more than 7 pct
(Adds reports on Geithner, U.S. markets close)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged and the
dollar jumped on Friday on reports that President-elect Barack
Obama has chosen his point person to combat the worst U.S.
economic crisis in 80 years, giving hope to deeply fearful
markets.
Reports in the late afternoon that Obama will nominate
Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as
his Treasury secretary triggered a rapid turn in markets that
were wallowing after the week's heavy sell-off in equities.
The dollar extended gains against the yen and U.S. Treasury
bond prices added to earlier losses after the reports on
Geithner, whom investors view as highly qualified and
knowledgeable about the economy and the ways of Wall Street.
Along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke, Geithner has been among the most visible
officials trying to pull the United States out of its biggest
economic slump since the Great Depression.
"I think it is a brilliant pick, for no other reason than
that it creates continuity in the middle of one of the greatest
crises to ever face this country," said William O'Donnell, head
of U.S. interest rate strategy at UBS Securities LLC in
Stamford, Connecticut.
NBC reported that Obama was expected to announce his
economic team on Monday in an effort to calm markets.
The news lifted a deep cloud of uncertainty that has been
hanging over markets and helped offset fresh worries about the
future of embattled U.S. bank Citigroup <C.N>.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed up 494.13
points, or 6.54 percent, at 8,046.42. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> surged 47.59 points, or 6.32 percent, to 800.03.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <> jumped 68.23 points, or 5.18
percent, to 1,384.35.
In a sign of the fear that had been hanging over Wall
Street before the Geithner news, almost 2 out of every 5 stocks
among the 3,241 issues that traded on the New York Stock
Exchange slipped to fresh 52-week lows.
But by the end of the session, advancing shares beat
decliners by almost 2 to 1.
U.S. Treasury debt prices plunged, with yields rebounding
from historic lows, as traders booked profits on this week's
unprecedented gains.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> fell60/32 in price to yield 3.21 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury
note <US2YT=RR> fell 9/32 to yield 1.10 percent. Yields and
bonds prices move in opposite direction.
Oil rose after a 7 percent slide on Thursday to settle at
its lowest level since May 2005. U.S. crude <CLc1> rose 51
cents to settle at $49.93 a barrel, while London Brent crude
<LCOc1> settled up $1.11 at $49.19 a barrel.
Earlier in Europe bourses suffered a broad sell-off,
spurred by grim data on euro zone manufacturing.
European stocks fell for the seventh time in nine sessions,
with pharmaceuticals the biggest drag. Utility shares and
mobile phone companies were the next biggest drags to the
FTSEurofirst 300 pan-European index.
Jitters over financial stocks knocked down banking shares,
with Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> down almost 14 percent.
Pharmaceutical stocks, which had been resilient over the
past few weeks, took a beating with four of the top five
contributors to the decline in the drug industry.
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> fell 10.3 percent, AstraZeneca
<AZN.L> 8.7 percent, GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> 6.9 percent and
Novartis <NOVN.VX> 6.4 percent.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
closed 2.6 percent lower at 760.97 points, and lost about 11.7
percent on the week.
Despite the euphoria about Geithner, analysts earlier
warned that investor anxiety over the state of the global
economy has hardly evaporated.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs forecast more pain,
estimating real U.S. gross domestic product would fall by 5
percent on an annual basis in the fourth quarter and
unemployment would reach 9 percent late next year.
Asian stocks overnight rebounded from five-year lows. The
MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan climbed 3.3
percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>, while Japan's Nikkei average <>
added nearly 3 percent.
(Reporting by Leah Schnurr, Richard Leong, Steven C. Johnson
in New York, Joe Brock, George Matlock and Humeyra Pamuk in
London and Blaise Robinson in Paris; Writing by Herbert Lash;
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
