Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke came to Wall Street’s rescue yesterday with a surprise intervention that sent stocks soaring.For the first time since turbulent 2001, the Fed acted between scheduled meetings to cut the discount interest rate it charges to banks.

The move - which eased investor jitters about a possible freeze on lending that could throw the economy into turmoil - sent stocks on a tear.

After seven straight down days amid concerns about a deepening credit crunch, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped as much as 300 points in early morning trading. The surge came after a roller-coaster session on Thursday, which saw the Dow make a dramatic late-day recovery from a more than 340-point drop.

Growing concerns that the crisis in US housing and mortgage markets is pushing the economy toward recession sent Wall Street on another wild ride yesterday as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged by as much as 340 points before recovering most of the losses in the final hour of trading.

In a day marked by panic selling, investors were whipsawed as stock indexes dove, rebounded, and dove again before clawing their way back to where they started. The Dow closed down 15.69 points, or 0.1 percent, at 12,845.78. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index eked out a 4.57, or 0.3 percent, gain to 1,411.27. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 7.76, or 0.3 percent, to 2,451.07.

U.S. share prices rebounded strongly Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve Board approved a cut in a key bank lending rate–a surprise step taken to quell the storm battering global stock markets. But even with the Fed’s move, the current situation does not fill us with optimism for the near-term prospects of the markets.

The Fed cut the discount rate–the interest rate the Fed charges on loans to banks–by half a percentage point to 5.75 percent. This was the first emergency cut approved by the Fed since immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. But the U.S. central bank left the federal fund rate–its key short-term rate–unchanged at 5.25 percent.

John Mitchell traced the ring of circles on the fallen live oak tree near his Forest Hills home as though he were reading Braille.

“How old do you think this tree is?” he asked. “Sixty, 80 years?”

Phil Erwin, acting chief arborist for the city of Dallas, stepped over broken limbs, swept a handful of dust from the freshly shorn trunk and gave his estimate.

“I’d place it at least 50 years,” he said.

Forest Hills, just east of White Rock Lake, is home to a verdant tapestry of old-growth trees that canopy the neighborhood in a cocoon. But that canopy is shrinking.