A roundup of trading on major world markets.
NEW YORK – US stocks scored their third straight week of gains on Friday as anticipation of a fairly solid third-quarter earnings season trumped worries about Europe and weak economic growth.
With just barely enough positive data to convince that the country will skirt — for now — a new recession, and just enough news on the European political front to convince that the eurozone crisis would be under control, investors drove a solid rally on Friday to cap off another volatile but ultimately positive week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week up 4.87 per cent at 11,644.49. The broader S&P 500 advanced 5.98 per cent to 1,224.58, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 7.59 per cent to 2,667.85.
On Friday, the Dow rose 166.36 points, or 1.4 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 20.92 points, or 1.7 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 47.61 points, or 1.8 per cent.
Since September 23, the three indices have put on between 8.3 and 8.5 per cent, even while hitting the year’s low point on October 3.
The push upward has put the Dow and Nasdaq back to just a hair higher than where they were on January 1, while the S&P 500 remains 2.6 per cent down for the year.
Analysts were encouraged by retail sales data for September released Friday that showed a 1.1 per cent rise over the previous month, and that the annual pace of the advance was about eight per cent.
Economists were also encouraged by the week’s data.
The first major company results from the week — Alcoa, JPMorgan Chase and Google — were solid. Alcoa’s profits tripled from a year earlier but unsurprisingly sagged from the second quarter as aluminum prices fell.
JPMorgan’s earnings beat expectations but still slipped slightly. Google surprised on the upside, pulling up others in the tech sector.
The coming week will bring similar results, analysts forecast, but trading will also be shaped by what comes out of the G20 finance chiefs meeting in Paris this weekend and news on the eurozone crisis.
Also coming up will be number of US economic data releases, especially markers of the inflation rate: industrial production (Monday); producer prices (Tuesday); consumer prices and housing starts (Wednesday); and existing-home sales and weekly jobless claims (Thursday).
LONDON – European stocks rose, bouyed by optimism that eurozone leaders were finally pushing forward to resolve the debt crisis and positive US data and corporate earnings.
London’s benchmark FTSE-100 index gained 1.17 per cent to 5,466.36 points, while in Paris the CAC-40 rose 0.97 per cent to 3,217.89 points and in Frankfurt the DAX-30 gained 0.89 per cent to 5,967.20 points.
Madrid advanced 0.36 per cent even though Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s long-term credit rating by one notch to “AA-” from “AA” with a negative outlook, following downgrades to the country’s top banks.
Milan soared 2.5 per cent despite a central bank warning of slow growth in the third quarter and a possible credit crunch.
Wall Street advanced on strong corporate earnings and news that US retail sales surged at their strongest pace in seven months in September, at 1.1 per cent, a much bigger advance than the 0.6 per cent rise expected by most analysts.
Eurozone leaders were celebrating Slovakia’s delayed ratification of new powers to the currency union’s EFSF bailout fund, but there was no respite from the crisis, with Spain’s credit rating downgrade underlining the threat to banks.
Finance ministers from the G20 bloc of leading economies also pressed Europe to tackle its debt crisis to stave off a global downturn as they gathered Friday in Paris for tense talks at the weekend.
TOKYO – Asian markets were mostly lower after Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s sovereign credit rating, renewing concerns about the extent of Europe’s fiscal woes.
The losses follow a week of broad global gains that were fuelled by easing tensions over the eurozone as its leaders prepare to hammer out a deal to solve their debt crisis.
Tokyo closed 0.85 per cent, or 75.29 points, lower at 8,747.96.
Hong Kong fell 1.36 per cent, or 256.02 points, to 18,501.79 and Shanghai fell 0.30 per cent, or 7.41 points, to 2,431.38 as data showed Chinese inflation eased only slightly in September. Analysts warned the small dip would not be enough to stoke an easing of monetary policy.
WELLINGTON – New Zealand shares fell, rounding out a weekly slide of 2.5 per cent on the NZX 50 Index, after earnings downgrades by companies tied to the building sector.
The NZX 50 fell 4.203, or 0.1 per cent, to 3302.472, the lowest close since September 27.
