Stock Surge Off New Lows

Both the S&P500 and the Nasdaq Composite registered fresh 52-week lows around 1:00EST during today's session. Soon after, they both began rallies and would close a massive 10% higher than their intra-day lows. Volume surged on both the NYSE and the Nasadaq (see charts below - or links in the blog's right-hand column) as the rally progressed.

NYSE:

Nasdaq:

The charts above show that volume picked up during the rally and was much higher than the past several days on both exchanges. (The bottom portion of the chart shows today's volume relative to yesterday.)

Further, breadth was impressive: advancing issues outnumbered decliners on both the NYSE (2,650/919) and NASDAQ (2,089/799). Up volume accounted for 77% of the NYSE volume, while 89% of the Nasdaq volume was positive.

Could this rally mark the end of this devastating - in both speed and magnitude - bear market? Stay tuned...