US stocks open higher after Wednesday’s rout (10:08 p.m.)
NEW YORK — Stocks jumped Thursday after the previous session’s massive rout, but safe assets such as gold and Treasury bills still saw heavy demand as investors braced for more instability in the financial system.
Following the bailout of insurer American International Group Inc., the Federal Reserve and other major central banks around the world on Thursday joined forces to inject as much as $180 billion into global money markets in an attempt to keep the credit crisis from worsening. The Fed added another $55 billion in overnight loans Thursday.
But fears have not fully receded. Market participants are still trying to determine how to proceed in what is looking to be the most troubling period for the world’s financial system in most investors’ memory.
The big fear on Wall Street is that there are more significant financial companies to fall.
On Wednesday, the 3-month Treasury bill - considered one of the safest short-duration assets - saw demand surge so high that its yield briefly dipped into negative territory for the first time since 1940. (AP)
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