Stocks on Wall Street wrapped their best week in nearly 12 months, as optimism about second-quarter corporate profits powered a rebound from the market's worst levels this year.Other world markets also rose as positive leads from the US prompted buyi
Stocks on Wall Street wrapped their best week in nearly 12 months, as optimism about second-quarter corporate profits powered a rebound from the market's worst levels this year.
Other world markets also rose as positive leads from the US prompted buying in commodity-linked and exporter shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 511.55 points, or 5.3%, for the week, its strongest performance since the week ended July 17, 2009.
The gains came after a bruising end to the second quarter, with the Dow falling 10% and the S&P 500 index sliding 12%.
The recovery has largely come in the absence of fresh upbeat economic or corporate news and represents more a tempering of some of the pessimism.
Alcoa was the Dow's best performer of the week, gaining 9.4% ahead of its second-quarter earnings report on Monday, which marks the official start of the reporting season.
Other stocks closely tied to the global growth cycle also fared well, with Caterpillar up 9.3% for the week.
The Dow closed up 59.04 points, or 0.6%, to 10,198.03. The S&P 500 added 7.71 points or 0.7% to close at 1077.96. The index also gained over 5% for the week, its strongest performance in nearly a year with all of its sectors in the black.
The Nasdaq Composite added 21.05, or 0.97%, to 2196.45, bolstered by a 2.4% jump in Google after the Chinese government renewed a licence it needed to continue using its Chinese interest address.
Other markets: Europe, Asia up
European shares closed higher for the fourth straight session and also wrapping up the best week in a year.
The Stoxx 600 Europe index rose 0.6% to 250.09, bringing its weekly gain to 5.4%, its best since a 6.8% jump in the week ending July 17, 2009.
The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 5132.94, gaining 6.1% for the week, the German DAX added 0.5% to 6065.24, a 4% weekly gain, and the French CAC-40 also rose 0.5% to 3553.48, a 6.2% weekly jump.
In Asia, Korean stocks shrugged off a surprise interest-rate increase by the central bank, while Japanese shares climbed in spite of hefty losses in Inpex after it announced capital-raising plans.
Elsewhere in the region, markets broadly rallied as positive leads from Wall Street prompted buying in commodity-linked and exporter shares.
The Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.5% to 9585.32 in Tokyo, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9% to 4396.31, Korea's Kospi rose 1.4% to 1723.01, Taiwan's Taiex added 0.5% to 7647.25 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.6% to 7647.25.
China's Shanghai Composite was the biggest gainer, racking up 2.3% to 2470.92, while India's Sensex added 1.0% to 17,833.54 and Singapore's Straits Times gained 0.7% 2917.17.
Commodities: Oil up
Crude oil futures rallied the most in a week since May, fuelled by dropping US inventories and rosier economic data.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 65USc, or 0.9%, to settle at $US76.09 a barrel in New York.
For the week, crude futures rose 5.5%, eating into the previous week's 8% slide caused by a batch of underwhelming economic data that raised fears about the pace of recovery.
Currencies: Euro down, up for week
The euro slipped against the dollar, but still ended the week up about 0.6% amid signs that investors are viewing it more positively.
The euro was at $US1.2640 from $US1.2703 late on Thursday. The dollar was at ¥88.65 from ¥88.38, while the euro was at ¥112.07 from ¥112.27. The UK pound was at $US.5066 from $US1.5155.
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