US stocks rallied sharply in opening trade on Monday as Wall Street rode optimism spurred by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's remarks and Hurricane Irene's lighter-than-expected damage.

The Dow J

Hurricane Irene is being blamed for at least 29 deaths in nine eastern US states, emergency officials and local media said on Monday, as Vermont and other states suffered disastrous flooding.

The dea

Barely a hurricane on Sunday but massive and packed with rain, Irene flooded towns, killed at least eight people and knocked out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses as it plodded up the

Hurricane Irene battered New York with heavy winds and driving rain on Sunday, knocking out power and flooding some of Lower Manhattan's deserted streets even as it lost some of its strength.

Irene w

US President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in eight states including New York, Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut as hurricane Irene hit North Carolina with high winds and heavy

The edge of Hurricane Irene hit New York on late Saturday, bringing torrential rain, freshening winds and fears of widespread flooding after killing at least eight people in its run up the US east co

Packing strong winds of 80 mph Hurricane Irene hit America's North Carolina coast and was churning its way up the east coast, triggering an unprecedented exodus of tens of thousands of people from

Mayor Michael Bloomberg sternly warned New Yorkers to follow the city's unprecedented mandatory evacuation orders on Saturday, saying approaching Hurricane Irene is ‘life-threatening’ and ‘not a joke.

A state of emergency has been declared in New York as the US East Coast geared up for hurricane Irene which is expected to make its first landfall over the weekend and dump about 15 inches of rain in

President Barack Obama urged Americans to take immediate precautions as the 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Irene bore down on the US east coast and told them to heed evacuation orders.

"I cannot str