Around the World's Markets: New York

BLUE CHIP stocks rallied yesterday as investors put their sidelined cash back to work in the market amid easing concerns about Brazil's teetering economy and a lack of fresh news to derail stocks. The Dow Jones average closed up 123.06 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 8,495.03.

"Sentiment has turned more positive and the path of least resistance is up - not that the market is going to make huge progress," said Roy Blumberg, a market analyst at First Allied Securities.