SunTrust, Aflac join rally Tuesday

Georgia’s publicly traded companies rode the updraft of bargain-hunting and — at least temporary — optimism that drove the Dow Jones industrials 485 points higher on Tuesday.

The bounce-back partly reflected investors’ confidence that Congress will pass a $700 billion aid package to the financial services sector, which failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

That change of heart from a day earlier was evident for two local financial companies.

SunTrust Banks, which plunged 23 percent Monday, rose more than 16 percent Tuesday to close at $44.99 per share.

Supplemental insurance firm Aflac rose more than 14 percent to close at $58.75 per share.

Firms in other sectors did well, too.

Delta Air Lines’ shares gained nearly 2 percent to close at $7.45, reversing Monday’s slide of more than 7 percent.

Home Depot’s stock meanwhile had a one-day gain of 3.6 percent, to close at $25.89 despite trading lower during the day.

Aaron Rent’s stock also rose by 0.86 percent to close the day at $27.07, after a huge dip in the morning.

Not every local company was a gainer.

UPS’s stock had a steady decline. It lost a total of 1.05 percent from Monday’s close of $63.56.

The stock swoon on Wall Street that started the week wasn’t entirely unexpected, said Phil Larkins, a senior portfolio manager for Northern Trust in Atlanta with more than $1.2 billion under management.

“Clearly (Monday’s) sell-off was predicated on the failure of Congress to endorses the bailout. The market doesn’t like uncertainty,” Larkins said.

Investors tiptoed back in Tuesday, Larkins said, because they “feel like some sort of bailout will pass. They came back in not knowing when it will pass but they came in wanting to be ahead of the curve.”

On Monday, investors saw $1.2 trillion in paper wealth evaporate from their collective portfolios and the Dow plummet almost 800 points. But bargain-hunters ventured back in a Tuesday rally that recaptured 485.21 points, or 4.68 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 5.27 percent, or 58.35 points, to close at 1,164.74. The Nasdaq jumped nearly 100 points, or 4.97 percent, to close at 2,082.33.

Staff writers Russell Grantham, Rachel T. Ramos and Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this report.