国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks surge on toxic asset plan, home sales

NEW YORK, March 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks staged the strongest rally this year on Monday as the market was boosted by U.S. government's latest plan on clearing bad bank assets and a larger-than-expected rise in existing home sales.

S&P 500 indexes jumped more than 7 percent, while Dow surged nearly 500 points.

    The stocks opened sharply higher on Monday after the U.S. Treasury Department revealed its latest plan to remove financial institutions' bad assets. The plan would rely on the government's 700 billion dollars of financial rescue fund, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as well as private investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is seen on a digital display at the New York Stock Exchange March 23, 2009.

    The financial sector led the way up as big banks rallied with investors betting that the new plan will help improve the banks' balance sheets. Citigroup rose 19.47 percent to 3.13 dollars a share, and Bank of America shares jumped 26.01 percent to 7.8 dollars. JPMorgan Chase shares added 5.71 dollars, or 24.67 percent, to 28.86 dollars and Wells Fargo & Company shares gained 3.34 dollars, or 23.87 percent, to 17.33 dollars.

The news of the government's bad asset rescue plan is seen on the screen at Times Square in New York, the United States, March 23, 2009

The release of February existing home sales data, which beat estimates, helped to fuel the rally. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday that sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million last month, from 4.49 million units in January. It was the largest sales jump since July2003.

    Moreover, crude oil price gained 1.73 dollars to settle at 53.8dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after topping54.05 dollars a barrel. Energy shares soared with Exxon Mobile Corporation and Chevron Corporation gaining nearly 7 percent.

    Dow Jones surged 497.48, or 6.84 percent, to 7,775.86. Broader indexes also moved sharply higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 54.38, or 7.08 percent, to 822.92, and the Nasdaq gained 98.50, or 6.76 percent, to 1,555.77.