FOX Business: The Power to Prosper

The clouds that had been hovering over the markets finally broke on Thursday as strong demand for GM’s IPO and signs of a bailout for Ireland’s banks lightened the mood on Wall Street.

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 173.35 points, or 1.57%, to 11181.23, the Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 18.10 points, 1.54%, to 1196.69 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 38.39 points, or 1.55%, to 2514.40. The FOX added 13.15 points, or 1.55%, to 859.35.

The burst of buying allowed Wall Street to quickly recapture about half of the losses chalked up from the past week’s bearishness. The widespread rally was the markets’ best in two weeks.

“The market is shrugging off the concerns of the last several days and finally got tired of going down,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

The bulls can thank talk of a sizable rescue for the ailing Irish banking sector and optimism surrounding General Motors (NYSE:GM), whose initial public offering may surpass $23 billion and become the largest in history. Underscoring the huge amount of attention on GM, the stock’s volume of more than 450 million shares accounted for about 10% of the total New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Thursday.

“The impact of the GM IPO cannot be overstated,” Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group, wrote in a note. “This turnaround story is singular in its impact on the economy, market psychology [and] the perception that our ailing economy is on the mend.”

Wall Street was also boosted by a new report showing initial jobless claims slid back below the closely-watched 400,000 level last week and a Philadelphia manufacturing index surging to 11-month highs. 

The Dow, which had slumped about 350 points over the prior week, saw gains for nearly all 30 of its members, led by economically-sensitive Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and Boeing (NYSE:BA). The index's weakest performers were Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). 

The Nasdaq Composite soared 1.5% amid strength from technology stocks like Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). 

Wall Street cheered the return of American icon GM to the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks to strong demand for its shares, the 102-year-old GM priced its shares at $33 each -- the top of its proposed range -- and opened up more than 7% to $35.40 before retreating. GM, which was rescued by the U.S., still owes the government almost $50 billion, but its return was seen as a milestone for Wall Street and Detroit. 

The U.S. markets continue to closely track the direction of the euro, which rallied around predictions from officials that Ireland will receive "tens of billions" of euros to fix its banks. The move would be aimed at stemming the panic that has slammed Ireland and rattled global markets. Signaling the enthusiasm in the markets for the bailout talk, shares of Bank of Ireland (NYSE:IRE) surged 33% on Thursday.

Wall Street, which often moves in the same direction as the euro versus the dollar, had tumbled in recent days amid worried the crisis could spread to bigger nations like Spain. 

With that backdrop, the euro gained 0.76% to $1.3628. That in turn helped lift commodities, which have been hurt in recent days by the stronger greenback. Crude oil jumped $1.41 a barrel, or 1.75%, to $81.85. Gold gained $16.10 a troy ounce, or 1.20%, to $1,352.90.

On the economic front, Wall Street hit session highs after the Philly Fed said its manufacturing index soared in November to a 22.5 reading -- the highest level since December 2009. Economists had expected a much more modest improvement from October's 1.0 level to 4.5%. In contrast, a New York regional manufacturing index posted an alarming decline in November.

Also, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims slid by 2,000 last week to 437,000. The government revised the prior week's figure up to 437,000. Economists had been calling for a rise to 440,000. Notably, the four-week moving average of new claims, which smoothes out volatility in the figures, fell to 443,000 -- the lowest level since early September 2008. 

Corporate Movers

Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) slumped 4% after posting a deeper-than-expected non-GAAP loss of $1.71 a share. Revenue declined 5% to $9.68 billion, trailing consensus calls for $9.9 billion. Gross margins slid from 27.2% to 26.4%. Domestic same-store sales dropped 4.8%, weighed down by an 8.2% dive in Sears domestic same-store sales.

Williams Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) tumbled 10% after the retailer’s stronger-than-expected non-GAAP EPS of 35 cents was overshadowed by its outlook. The company sees fourth quarter and 2010 non-GAAP profits likely trailing estimates.

Cablevision (NYSE:CVC) soared 7% to 52-week highs after the cable company signaled plans to spin off its Rainbow Networks unit, which includes AMC and Sundance Channel. Cablevision is targeting a mid-2011 spin-off, but is not considering plans to sell Rainbow or its cable and telecom operations outright.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) met Wall Street's expectations with a non-GAAP EPS of 29 cents. Revenue increased 2.1% to $751.5 million, beating estimates for $748.8 million. Same-store sales grew by 1%.

Del Monte Foods (NYSE:DLM) rallied nearly 10% amid a report the company could be the target of a leveraged buyout.

GameStop (NYSE:GME) beat the Street with a non-GAAP profit of 38 cents a share. While its sales growth of 3.5% to $1.9 billion trailed consensus calls, the video game retailer upped its full-year guidance and projected same-store sales rising 2% to 4% this quarter. 

Global Markets

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 jumped 1.34% to 5768.71, France's CAC 40 gained 1.99% to 3867.97 and Germany's DAX surged 1.97% to 6832.11.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 soared 2.06% to 10013.60, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.8% to 23637.40 and China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.94% to 2865.45.