U.S. Stocks Rebound From Plunge; P&G, Sprint, Merck Lead Gains (Eric Martin)

   ``People are poking around amidst the rubble of yesterday's market collapse, looking for good things to buy,'' said John Carey, who manages about $12 billion at Pioneer Investment Management in Boston.

  By Eric Martin

  Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rebounded from their biggest plunge in four years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the economy will continue growing and the nation's largest financial institutions advised investors the bull market isn't over.

  Shares of consumer, telephone and health-care companies, whose earnings are less reliant on swings in the economy, led the advance. Procter & Gamble Co. climbed the most in seven months for the best performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Sprint Nextel Corp. rose after its sales beat analysts' estimates. Merck & Co. gained on a higher profit forecast.

  European and Asian stocks slumped, while emerging markets had their steepest two-day drop in eight months in the wake of yesterday's U.S. selloff. In all, more than $1 trillion of global stock market value was wiped out over the last two days. The Dow average completed its worst month since April 2005.

  ``People are poking around amidst the rubble of yesterday's market collapse, looking for good things to buy,'' said John Carey, who manages about $12 billion at Pioneer Investment Management in Boston. ``The consumer economy here in the U.S. is still pretty strong. The longer-term picture continues to be encouraging.''

  The Dow industrials added 52.39, or 0.4 percent, to 12,268.63 as strategists at Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Investment Research and UBS AG recommended buying stocks. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rallied 7.78, or 0.6 percent, to 1406.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 8.29, or 0.3 percent, to 2416.15.

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