(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-01 07:47

NEW YORK - Wall Street shed early losses and nosed up as bond insurer MBIA Inc. offered reassurances on a conference call with investors.

A street sign is seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange January 18, 2008. [Agencies]

MBIA, the world largest bond insurer, reported a 2.3 billion dollars loss during the fourth quarter, after taking a big loss for the securities it guarantees due to the U.S. housing downturn.

The loss added to the investors' uneasiness. The market worried that insurers that guarantee municipal and corporate debt may soon receive downgrades from credit rating agencies and thus triggered a new round of uncertainty in a financial system.

Moreover, the U.S. government reported the largest gain in claims for first-time unemployment benefits since September 2005 Thursday morning.

The MBIA at the conference call said the market was overreacted to its real problems and reassured investors with its triple-A rating. The call helped financials.  

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 93.97 to 12,536.80. Broader indexes were also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.29 to 1,368.10, and the Nasdaq composite gained 18. 89 to 2,367.89.