Market Wrap-Up

A day after Monday's historic 777-point slide, traders used that sell-off as an apparent buying opportunity to scoop up stocks they thought had been oversold 24 hours earlier. Indeed, Monday's drop might have been the largest single-day point decrease ever, but it also left a lot of well-run, healthy companies trading at remarkably enticing lows. Since it appears Congress is working furiously to get another bailout plan up for a vote by (hopefully) Thursday, the situation proved too tempting to ignore for many investors. An apparent change in a fair value accounting rule at the heart of the credit crises also gave a boost to trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up as soon as the opening bell was rung. It finally closed by climbing 485 points to 10,850. (No doubt, light trading because of the Jewish holiday helped.)

Even oil regained some ground after being sold off on Monday, too. It gained just over $5 a barrel to end at the $102 level. Gold, a noted safe haven in down markets, lost $23 an ounce to $871.

However, there was a reminder that the economy is still in a weak state. The Case-Shiller home price index fell 16.3% in July. It has fallen in every month since January 2007.

Winners

Tuesday investors seemed willing to take on more risk. The prospect of an eventual bailout plan here in the U.S., coupled with capital infusions by banks into ailing financial systems across the globe, led to a rally in emerging markets both in Europe and Asia. The SPDR S&P Emerging Europe fund (GUR) gained 12.8%. The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ETF (FXI) increased 9.9%.

Even commodities gained back some ground. The Market Vectors Coal fund (KOL), which had been selling off over concerns steel demand would slow down during a prolonged global economic down turn, climbed 7.8%.

A popular trade Tuesday was regional banks stocks. The idea of further consolidation, brought on by some deals with the FDIC, and some management changes at some beleaguered names gave investors newfound confidence in these names. The SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF (KRE) gained 6.5%

Losers

Investors seemed optimistic enough to take off some portfolios hedges. iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) lost 8.7% and 5%, respectively.

Wednesday's Notebook

Earnings & Conference Calls

Wednesday
Immucor, Mosaic, Wolverine World Wide

Economic Data

Wednesday
No announcements

Quick Take
A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Tuesday.