News digest: Sept. 24, 2001

The day's events | Losses

THE DAY'S EVENTS

• Stocks rallied today to climb out of their worst week since the 1940s. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 368 points and the Nasdaq was up 76. The broad rally helped sectors hurt by last week's sell-off spurred by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin today listed steps his country is willing to take to aid anti-terrorist efforts. Russia will supply anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan with weapons and other equipment, aid search and rescue operations, and open its airspace for humanitarian aid. Kazakhstan and Ukraine have agreed to allow the United States to enter their airspace.

• Speculation continues whether New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani will extend his term of office in order to lead the city's recovery efforts. "I have not had time to think about it," remains Giuliani's official position.

• Mayor Giuliani also announced that New York City is preparing to assist families by preparing paperwork for families to have victims declared legally dead before their loved ones' remains are found.

• Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, called on his supporters in Pakistan to defend Islam against "American crusaders." A fax attributed to bin Laden read, "We tell our Muslim brothers in Pakistan to use all their means to resist the invasion of the American crusader forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

• President Bush signed an executive order today freezing the assets of 27 individuals and organizations, calling the order a "strike on the financial foundation" of terrorists. "We will starve the terrorists of funding. We will turn them against one another," Bush said during a press conference at the White House's Rose Garden.

• The Federal Aviation Administration--in conjunction with the FBI--grounded crop-dusters amid concerns that suspected terrorists might have been plotting to use the aircraft for another attack. The FBI is investigating the discovery of a crop-dusting manual found among the belongings of a man being held as a material witness in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

• Wall Street rallied this morning for the first time since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Investor hope--seriously damaged last week in the aftermath of the attacks--appears to be responding to urging from Wall Street commentators to buy stocks. European and some Asian markets also advanced.