Wall Street investors get good news

The Dow goes back over 13,000.

NEW YORK (AP) —Wall Street shot higher Tuesday, lifting the Dow Jones industrials nearly 320 points after reassuring news from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quelled some of the market’s worst fears about the credit crisis and the economy. A plunge in the price of oil gave investors further incentive to buy.

Goldman Sachs heartened investors with word that it didn’t expect a significant hit from the subprime mortgage turmoil. Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, speaking at a conference held by Merrill Lynch & Co., said the bank has a short position in the subprime mortgage market and won’t be taking any significant charges to write off losses.

Goldman’s news helped offset an announcement from Bank of America Inc., which joined other big financial companies including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch that have recently revealed heavy writedowns from soured mortgages; BofA said it will record $3 billion in pretax writedowns in the fourth quarter.

Goldman’s assessment was the first substantial good news from the financial services industry about a company’s credit exposure, and was comforting to investors whose fears about widening credit problems have sent Wall Street plunging over the past month.

“People just want to know what’s out there,” said Todd Leone, managing director of equity trading at Cowen & Co. “They want to feel like they’re being told the truth.”

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 319.54, or 2.46 percent, to 13,307.09.

A day earlier, a turbulent session pushed the Dow below 13,000 for the first time since August. Tuesday’s advance snapped a four-day losing streak for the blue chip index.

Broader indexes also rose sharply Tuesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 41.86, or 2.91 percent, to 1,481.04, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 89.52, or 3.46 percent, to 2,673.65.

“Over the last week there has been so much bloodshed on the Street, it’s finally enticed people back to the market,” said Ryan Larson, senior equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management. “At some point, it’s hard to turn your head when all these issues become so cheap.”

Bonds fell as investors moved back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.26 percent from 4.22 percent late Friday. The market was closed Monday in observance of Veterans Day.