The Dow Gains 233 Points, Nasdaq Adds 54

The Dow gained 233.30 points today to close at 13,079.08, the Nasdaq added 53.96 points to close at 2,505.03 and the S&P 500 added 34.67 points to close at 1,445.94. The markets jumped right at the open after the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate by 50 basis points (1/2%), from 6.25% to 5.75%. The Dow gained over 300 points, but sold off to only an 80 point gain. However, Investors did some bargain shopping, helping the markets rally into the close.

Volume was heavy on the NYSE with 5.08 billion shares traded and 2.61 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq. Advancers topped Decliners on the NYSE by a margin of 29:4 and 23:8 on the Nasdaq.

In individual stories, RARE Hospitality Int'l (Nasdaq: RARE) jumped 35.9% after Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) offered to purchase RARE's outstanding common stock for $38.15 per share in cash, or approximately $1.4 billion in total purchase price. Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY) fell 25.6% after the company reported Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $0.05, 2 cents better than estimates. (On a GAAP basis, operating loss for the fourth quarter 2007 was $419,000 and for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007 was $8.5 million). Revenues were $44.0 million vs. $44.1 million consensus.

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