Wall Street faces another week of earnings reports on the upbeat after a wave of bright corporate news dissipated some of the gloom from the ongoing financial turmoil.
“A sense that the worst may be over on the credit crisis front is gradually rolling over the market, with equities cheering generally better-than-expected results for non-financials this week, and looking beyond further write-downs among major US banks,” said Douglas Porter, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets
During the week, solid quarterly results from multinationals such as Google, IBM, Intel, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar and Honeywell, have eased concerns about bottom lines in the credit squeeze.
“What a difference a week makes,” Briefing.com’s Patrick O’Hare said.
“Last Friday the market was bemoaning a very disappointing earnings report from General Electric and fearing the worst in front of this week’s busy earnings reporting period. This Friday it exits the week in an upbeat mood, basking in a sense of relief that this week’s earnings reports and economic data were better than feared,” he said.
In the week to Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.25 percent to 12,849.36 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 broad-market index climbed 4.31 percent to 1,390.33.
The tech-dominated NASDAQ composite advanced 4.92 percent to 2,402.97.
Bonds weakened as investors looked to equities. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.743 percent on Friday from 3.471 percent a week earlier, and that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.517 percent from 4.302 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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