On Wall Street, nobody’s home today but a few hungry bulls

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The world’s stock markets are off to a strong start in the new year, after the crash of 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 228 points, or 2.6%, to 9,004 at about 12:10 p.m. PST -- the first time the index has breached the 9,000 mark since Dec. 8. UPDATE: The Dow closed with a gain of 258.30 points, or 2.9%, to 9,034.69, its highest finish since Nov. 5.

It’s just too bad that there are so few people working on Wall Street today to enjoy this. Trading is very light, with most investors making a four-day weekend of the New Year’s holiday.

‘There is no institutional presence whatsoever,’ said Dan McMahon, head of equity trading at Raymond James & Associates in New York.

And that means any significant market move today, up or down, would be suspect. Better to wait until Monday to see what the big money really thinks about stocks in 2009.

Still, McMahon says, ‘There is a lot of cautious optimism’ about the new year, after last year’s collapse.

The Dow plunged 33.8% last year, its worst decline since 1931. But the blue-chip index has been working its way higher since bottoming at 7,552 on Nov. 20.

The Standard & Poor’s 500, which slumped 38.5% in 2008, was up 2.8% to 928.89 at about 12:10 p.m. PST, and closed up 3.2% to 931.80. That lifted its gain since Nov. 20 to 23.8%. Winners were outnumbering losers by about 5 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Buyers were paying no attention to the dismal report on U.S. manufacturing activity in December, which suggested the economy continued its cliff dive.

Battered foreign markets also lured investors today. The German market gained 3.4%, British stocks rallied 2.9% and Hong Kong surged 4.6%. The Brazilian market is up 7.2% so far.

Meanwhile, some investors are selling the hot asset of 2008 -- Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year T-note has jumped to 2.42% after ending last year at 2.25%.

All in all, it’s a far better start for stocks than what we saw at the outset of last year: The Dow tumbled 221 points, or 1.7%, to 13,043 on Jan. 2, 2008, setting the scene for the massacre that would follow.

-- Tom Petruno