Wall St. hopes lifted by economic data

Mar. 20 - U.S. stocks staged a strong finish to a holiday-shortened week after a not-so-bad regional business survey bolstered investor confidence. The Dow surged 261 points to 12,361. The S&P 500 rallied 31 points to 1,329. The Nasdaq rose 48 points to 2,258. Crude oil and gold saw further slides.

Conway Gittens report from New York.