Investors returned to Wall Street Wednesday after getting fresh signs that their doomsday forecast for the economy might have been overdone.
Stocks rose about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped 170 points.
The government reported that February brought increases in demand for big-ticket manufactured goods and higher sales of new homes. Both readings [...]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has reassured Wall Street by telling Congress the recession might end this year.
In his semiannual report to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke predicted the economy is likely to keep contracting in the first six months of 2009.
But he also said “there is a reasonable prospect” the recession will end this [...]

Investors are frustrated with the government’s latest bank bailout plan — and showed it by unloading stocks.
The major stock indexes fell more than 4 percent Tuesday, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled 382 points.
Financial stocks led the market lower, a sign of how concerned Wall Street is about the government’s ability to restore [...]