March 23, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 19, 1424

NEW YORK, March 22: Stocks rallied some more in late Friday afternoon trade, leading the Dow and the S&P 500 toward their eighth straight session of gains, as investors hoped a US-led air attack on Iraq would end the war swiftly.

At the opening bell, stocks leaped and stayed throughout the session as rumours swirl that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is dead.

The market is clearly focused on the good news out of Baghdad (that victory is near), and as long as that continues, I think we will probably see the market tend to be on the positive side, said Peter Gottlieb, portfolio manager at First Albany Asset Management in Chicago. Everything else is kind of secondary at this point.

Stocks jumped after a BBC report quoted a British official as saying the Iraqi president was likely killed in the first air strike on Baghdad. But Britain’s defense chief later said he could not confirm the BBC report.

While things continue to go well over there (for US-led forces), we’re still a bit concerned, given we had such a long run-up, said Kevin Connellan, head of equity trading at Northern Trust.

The Dow Jones industrials climbed 192 points, or 2.31 per cent, to 8,479, near its high so far for the day of 8,480.09. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index rose 16 points, or 1.78 per cent, to 891, close to its session high at 893.17. The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index added 16 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 1,418, slightly below its session high at 1,425.73.

The market had notched gains throughout the morning on rising expectations the war will bring a speedy victory for the US-led forces, who swept through southern Iraq and seized strategic airfields.

DuPont Co. rose $1.72 or 4.3 per cent to $41.32. The No. 2 chemical maker helped drive the Dow higher after it stood by its quarterly profit forecast, citing strong results in its agriculture and pharmaceutical units, which partially offset higher costs for energy and raw materials.

Electronic Data Services Corp added $1.78, or 11.3 per cent, to $17.54. The computer services company’s chief executive, Richard Brown, has stepped down and will be replaced by Michael Jordan, former CEO of CBS Corp.

Sour corporate news failed to dampen investors’ spirits as hopes mounted that corporate growth would pick up steam after the war against Iraq has ended.

Intuit Inc, the maker of QuickBooks and TurboTax software, sank $11.67, or nearly 23 per cent, to $39.22. The company cut 2003 revenue and earnings growth targets, blaming the economic slowdown for soft sales across its product line.

State Street Corp fell $4.55 to $33.95. The financial services company said its earnings would likely be lower than expected due in part to narrowing interest-rate spreads and declining stock markets.

EMC Corp, a data storage system maker, lost 53 cents to $7.28. DB Securities cut EMC to “hold” from “buy”, partly on valuation and uncertain business trends.

The war overshadowed the day’s economic data. The US Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation at the retail price or consumer level, jumped 0.6 per cent its biggest gain in more than two years in February as energy prices surged on the march to war with Iraq and food costs jumped, the government reported. But the core CPI rose just 0.1 per cent, showing inflation was well-contained when volatile food and energy costs were stripped out.—Reuters