Stocks Edge Off Pre-Vote Bailout Gains

Updated from 11:56 a.m. EDT

Stocks on Wall Street pared earlier gains Friday after the House of Representatives passed the Treasury Department's $700 billion bailout package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, previously up as much as much as 313 points, was higher by 115 points at 10,598, and the S&P 500 was better by 15.8 points at 1130. The Nasdaq added 23.7 points to 2000.

The bill, which creates a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to take toxic assets off banks' balance sheets, passed the House 263 to 171.

"The importance of the rescue plan is that, over time, borrowers and lenders as well as financial markets and individual investors should gradually start shifting their outlook from what could go wrong to what could go right," wrote Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group, in an email. Recent economic data shows the U.S. is in a recession, and the housing market remains troubled, he wrote. However, Sheldon sees the passage of the bill as mitigating further downside risks for the economy and financial markets going forward.

"Anyone who thinks that this is going to be a silver bullet is going to be sorely disappointed," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com. He said the problems in credit markets and the economy have to work themselves out over a long period of time. Because of the global nature of the liquidity crisis, Roberts said, a solution will require a global coordinated effort among central banks. He said the bailout package is "not the seminal event that I think people are talking about. It's the first in a series of steps."