Weekend markets: Stocks rise on strong earnings

Stocks on Wall Street rose on another batch of largely positive corporate earnings and ahead of the weekend's European Union summit on the sovereign-debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 267.46 points, or 2.3%, to 11,808.79 at the close (9am NZ time), a gain of 1.4% for the week.

It was the Dow’s fourth straight weekly advance, marking its longest winning streak since January. The measure is up more than 2% this year.

McDonald's helped push the Dow higher, rising 3.7%, after third-quarter earnings rose as sales growth offset food-cost inflation. Travelers jumped 5.2% and American Express gained 4.9% to pace the Dow's gains.

The S&P 500 index advanced 1.9%, to 1238.25, as consumer-discretionary, material and financial stocks notched the biggest gains. Each of the index's 10 sectors rose. The index rose for the third consecutive week, its longest streak since February 18.

The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite rose1.5%, to 2637.46.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia mixed
Europe was broadly higher as the Stoxx Europe 600 rallied 2.5%. to 238.93. For the week, it posted a gain of 0.2%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index advanced 1.9% to 5488.65, to close the week up 0.4%; Germany’s DAX 30 index rallied 3.6%, to 5970.96, leaving it up slightly for the week; and the French CAC-40 index rose 2.8%, to 3171.34, but slid 1.5% for the week.

In Asia, Korea's Kospi advanced 1.8%, to 1838.38, amid a strong performance by construction firms as the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi boosted hopes of a resumption of suspended projects.

China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% to 2317.28, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended almost flat at 8678.89 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.1% to 4141.90.

Taiwan's Taiex closed at 7254.51, a 0.1% gain, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.2% to 18,025.72 and India's Sensex rose 0.9% to 16,785.64.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude-oil prices climbed above $US87 a barrel. Prices jumped as trading opened in New York and were up as much as 3% by mid-morning before settling back.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery settled up $US1.33, or 1.6%, to $US87.40 a barrel and ended 0.5% higher for the week.

Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange eased 20USc to $US109.56 a barrel, down 2.4% for the week.

Gold rose for the first day this week as a weaker dollar and optimism about Europe's debt crisis drew some buyers.

The gold contract for October delivery gained $US23.20, or 1.4%, to settle at $US1635.10 an ounce in New York. The contract fell 2.8% during the week.

Currencies: Yen spikes against UK dollar
The US dollar lost ground against the euro and the yen.

A sudden rise in the yen propelled it to a record against the dollar ¥75.78 per dollar from ¥76.22.

But a wave of sell orders saw it drop just as quick, The dollar finished at ¥76.26 compared with ¥76.79 late on Thursday.

The dollar also fell against the euro – $1.3896 compared with $1.3781. The UK pound bought $1.5953 compared with $1.5791, while the dollar fetched 0.8824 Swiss franc from 0.8938 franc late on Thursday.