In the dying moments of stock market activity on Tuesday afternoon, North American indexes are doing the opposite of what they did on Monday: They're taking off.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 680 points, or 8.3 per cent with about 15 minutes left in trading. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 513 points, or 6 per cent.

The symmetry goes further. Just as Manulife Financial Corp. suffered a perplexing 15 per cent decline on Monday, it is leading the way on Tuesday, with a 9.8 per cent gain.