Blue-chip stocks jumped to their strongest close in three week yesterday as Federal Reserve chairman, Mr Alan Greenspan, endorsed President George W. Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut, but technology stocks fell after Corning warned of a weak telecommunications market. Wall Street is hoping Bush's proposed tax cuts will return cash to investors and consumers.

Mr Greenspan declined to comment about the possible outcome of an interest rate-setting meeting scheduled for January 30th-31st, but he said the economy has slowed so sharply it may not be growing at all. Many took his words as a further hint for more interest-rate cuts to stop the economy from falling into recession.