Investors should consider putting Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on their list for holiday cards this year. He and his fellow central bankers did more than anyone this week to give the market its biggest lift in more than two years.
The Dow rose 7% on the week, to end at 12,019. In fact, it was the second-largest weekly point gain for the index ever. The S&P 500 rose 7.4%, its best showing since March 2009, ending up at 1,244.3. The small-cap Russell 2000, meanwhile, soared 10% on the week.
The indexes made the majority of those� gains on Wednesday after the Fed and five other central banks worked together to increase liquidity in the market by lowering rates on dollar swaps.
Bank stocks, while still beaten down, had a strong week, with Bank of America (BAC) rising 9% and Morgan Stanley (MS) jumping 17%.
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