Two-Day Rally All but 35 stocks in the S&P 500 gained. Forty-five companies in the index advanced at least 20 percent as all 10 major industry groups in the main benchmark for American equities gained, led by financials. The 84 banks, brokers and insurers in the index soared almost 19 percent as a group, the steepest advance since the gauge was created in 1989. Today’s advance followed a 6.3 percent rally in the S&P 500 on Nov. 21 after President-elect Barack Obama picked New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary. The index has tumbled 42 percent this year and closed at an 11-year low on Nov. 20 after almost $1 trillion of financial-company losses caused corporate profits to decrease for five straight quarters.