Dow Surges After Asian Bleeding, Roller-Coaster Day

Wall Street is dizzy after mixed signals threw traders into buy mode despite an abundance of bearish indicators today, making for one of the most volatile days in weeks. The Dow finished up 150.38 points at 13362.37, even after Asian markets plummeted across the board last night, a buyout for Bauch & Lomb failed, and a troubled Bear Stearns put another subprime-backed hedge fund on hold.

But after rumors that a crisis at homebuilder Beazer were dispelled, the major indexes saw a sharp rally: The Nasdaq pulled out of the red to close up 7.60 at 2553.87, and the S&P gained 10.54 to finish at 1465.81. Losers still outnumbered winners as the VIX volatility index hit 25; Ford and GM shares both fell on lagging sales figures, while Bear lost more than 2%. (More Nikkei stories.)