A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – A broad rally swept through the US stock market Friday after McDonald’s and several other large companies reported solid earnings.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed higher for the third straight week, its best run since February, as hope builds that a weekend meeting will bring European leaders closer to easing the region’s debt troubles.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 267.01 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 11,808.79. The Dow finished two per cent from where it started 2011. Before Friday’s surge, it was down for the year. The Dow has risen for four weeks straight, the first time that has happened since January.
McDonald’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Harman International Industries were among the companies that beat analysts’ expectations.
The quarterly earnings season is off to a strong start. Of the 118 companies that reported earnings so far, 75 per cent have beaten estimates, according to financial data provider FactSet.
The encouraging corporate news was in line with recent signs that the US economy strengthened in September after a very weak summer. On Friday the government said unemployment fell last month in half of US states and was unchanged in 11. That’s much better than in August, when unemployment rose in 26 states.
The Dow has now gained 10.8 per cent since October 3, when it sank to its lowest point of the year.
The S&P 500 gained 22.86 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 1,238.25. Rising stocks in the S&P outpaced falling ones by a margin of 20 to 1: only 23 companies traded lower.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 38.84, or 1.5 per cent, to 2,637.
LONDON – European stock markets closed sharply higher as investors hoped EU leaders would shortly come up with a concrete solution to the eurozone debt crisis to end months of agony and uncertainty.
The announcement on Thursday that EU leaders would meet next Wednesday after Sunday’s key summit in Brussels dampened sentiment in early trade but by the close on Friday, the optimists were in the majority, betting on solid, if very short-term, gains.
In London, the FTSE-100 index of top companies closed up 1.93 per cent to 5,488.65 points. In Paris, the CAC-40 jumped 2.83 per cent to 3,171.34 points and in Frankfurt the DAX-30 soared 3.55 per cent to 5,970.96 points.
Elsewhere in Europe, there were similar substantial gains with Madrid up 2.84 per cent and Milan adding 2.80 per cent.
The European single currency bounced to $1.3889 from $1.3772 in New York late Thursday. The dollar eased to 76.14 yen from 76.78 yen.
European finance ministers met on Friday to try to nail down debt funding for bailed-out Greece, a restructuring of Greek debt and help for the banks that will inevitably lose out as a result.
HONG KONG – Asian markets were mixed in nervous trade as European leaders put back a final plan to contain the eurozone sovereign debt crisis.
A rift between France and Germany over how to boost the continent’s rescue fund made it unlikely an EU summit on Sunday would end in a solid deal, leading the 17-nation euro bloc to announce a follow-up meeting for Wednesday.
Sydney ended flat, dipping three points to 4,141.9, Tokyo was also flat, losing 3.26 points to end at 8,678.89, while Seoul finished 1.84 per cent higher, adding 33.29 points to 1,838.38.
Hong Kong rose 0.24 per cent, or 42.62 points, to 18,025.72 while Shanghai was closed down 0.60 per cent, or 14.09 points, at 2,317.28.
Europe’s two biggest economies have been unable to reach agreement on reinforcing the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) despite their leaders announcing last week that they had a plan in place,
Investors have been hammered in recent weeks as Paris and Berlin bicker over how to beef up the fund to save weak economies such as Greece, Italy and Spain and avoid another global financial crisis.
France has been pushing for the fund to morph into a bank that could borrow from the European Central Bank to help troubled economies, but Berlin opposes that on the grounds it would entail changing the EU’s founding treaty.
Hopes that the loan would be agreed were boosted by news the Greek parliament had approved late on Thursday a controversial batch of tough austerity measures demanded by its creditors.
WELLINGTON – Wellington closed 0.26 per cent, or 8.61 points, lower at 3,281.16.
