Wall Street Closes Higher As Oil Prices Cool

NEW YORK, Aug 16 (AFP) - Wall Street surged to close higher Monday as receding oil prices offered the market some relief following a trouble-free referendum in oil-rich Venezuela.
Investors also kept a close eye on insurers, who began totting up the vast damage across Florida from Hurricane Charley.
The Dow Jones industrials average of 30 top stocks closed up 129.20 points, or 1.31 percent, at 9,954.55.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq market index finished higher 25.62 points, or 1.46 percent, at 1,782.84.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index was up 14.54 points, or 1.37 percent, at 1,079.34.
Cooler oil prices helped support the gains after soaring oil prices last week shot to record highs, sending the financial markets to new lows for 2004.
"Once again, one of those beguiling flurries from out of nowhere with handsome breadth but dubious volume," was how Larry Wachtel, a market analyst at Wachovia, described the day's action.
"The catalyst today was definitely oil, which touched up to an all-time high of 46.91 and then closed down 58 cents to 46.00 even," Wachtel added.
New York's light sweet crude contract for September delivery soared in pre-market electronic trading to a record 46.91 dollars a barrel Monday before closing at 46.05 dollars, down 53 cents on the day.
Brent North Sea crude, quoted in London, for September hit a record peak of 44.11 dollars before closing at 43.67 dollars, down 21 cents.
Oil prices eased following Sunday's recall referendum in Venezuela which authorities said was comfortably won by President Hugo Chavez. The result calmed investors' nerves over possible interruptions to the country's oil exports.
Insurers meanwhile began to tot up the carnage wrecked by Hurricane Charley across Florida.
The worst US storm in 12 years, Charley is expected to cost insurers up to 10 billion dollars, top catastrophe modelling firms said.
"Our estimates now are in the range of six to 10 billion dollars for insured losses," said AIR Worldwide spokesman Mike Gannon.
Standard and Poor's analyst Catherine Seibert said the impact was manageable by large insurers, with five billion to 10 billion dollars in costs well below Hurricane Andrew's 1992 bill of 20 billion to 25 billion dollars.
In the third quarter, many insurers would show losses because of the hurricane, but the impact would be absorbed longer term.
Beyond insurers' losses, total economic losses could amount to 20 billion dollars, Seibert said.
State Farm Insurance, the largest insurer in Florida, said it had received 19,454 homeowner and 1,552 auto claims as of Sunday afternoon.
"These numbers will continue to rise," it said.
State Farm is not publicly traded, but Allstate, the second-largest insurer for Florida homeowners, said its payout for Charley could affect current operations but would not endanger its overall financial health.
Allstate closed up 62 cents, or 1.35 percent, at 46.55 dollars while MetLife closed higher 42 cents, or 1.18 percent, at 36.06 dollars.
Google Inc.'s hotly anticipated share listing appears set to launch as early as Wednesday.
The Internet search engine said Monday it had asked regulators to give it authority to sell shares at 4:00 pm (20:00 GMT) Tuesday, meaning they could possibly start trading when the Nasdaq opens Wednesday.
Bonds prices declined.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond spiked to 4.258 percent from 4.213 percent late Friday, while that on the 30-year bond rose to 5.048 percent from 5.007 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.