Dow surges 308 points on ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

NEW YORK -- Investors poured back into the stock market in the first trading day of 2013, in a rally seen as a sigh of relief that President Obama and Congress were able to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff.”

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 308 points, or 2.4%, to 13,413. Wall Street followed surges in European and Asian equities markets after Washington’s last-minute fiscal deal.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 36 points, or 2.5%, to 1,462. It was the S&P;’s best first-trading-day jump since 2009, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst for S&P; Dow Jones Indices.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq gained 93 points, or 3.1%, to 3,112.

Though Washington may have avoided a stalemate that many observers say would have led to a recession, political leaders put off decisions over broad spending cuts in military and social programs to reduce the country’s long-term deficit.

“They turned off the bomb,” said Sean Kelly, head of equity trading at Knight Capital Group. “There’s still danger in the whole thing, but as of right now, there’s no immediate danger.”

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