Tensions eased on Wall Street early this week as investors’ trading was brisk due to the belief that the worst of the financial crises had passed. Stock prices have been rising this week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 191.92 points, or 1.4 percent, to 14,087.55. That beat the record close July 19 of 14,000.41. Retirement savings plans have rebounded, as well, and, according to Morningstar Inc., U.S. stock mutual fund has risen more than 10 percent. Analysts say disclosures by Citibank Inc. and other banks hurting from mortgage-lending woes of third-quarter losses caused investors to surmise that the worst is over. Some Wall Street analysts have even proclaimed that the threat of a recession is past. “There’s an overriding feeling that we will keep the problems in the credit markets and the residential real estate sector from spilling over to the broader economy,” Art Hogan, a market analyst in Boston, told the Los Angeles Times. Others, however, are more cautious, pointing out that major problems remain in the housing market and questioned their effect on consumer spending over the coming months, The New York Times reported.
