The Dow Jones industrial average was up 175 points in early afternoon trading on Friday, putting the popular index in position for its first weekly gain this year.
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The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent at 4 p.m.in NY, capping a session that saw it rise as much as 1.6 percent after falling 1.2 percent Wednesday to the lowest since April 2014.
Dow member General Electric lost 1.7 percent after reporting that industrial operating profits fell eight percent in the fourth quarter to $5.5 billion. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 4,591.18) was the biggest victor, posting a gain of 119.1 points, or 2.7% today, and 2.3% for the full week.
Fear over the plummeting oil prices, which have dropped by 70 percent since 2014, has been compounded by worries over market turmoil in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Investors dumped government bonds, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield up to 2.046 per cent from 2.021 per cent on Thursday. The 2017 projection lagged analyst expectations for $5.99 per share. The remarks sent Japan’s Nikkei up 5.88% at the close, with other Asian stocks following suit. Similarly Facebook climbed 3.6 per cent, though it remains off roughly 6 per cent in 2016.
Some investors said better-than-expected quarterly earnings reports have also emboldened investors to re-enter the stock market.
USA stocks followed a global rally in equities Friday after oil prices surged and investor confidence rose on indications central banks would act to support markets. For the week, the DJIA climbed 0.7%.
USA stocks rose Thursday and recovered some of their steep losses from the day before. The dollar rose 0.9% against the yen to ¥ 118.77.
Boosted by comments from European Central Bank’s President Mario Draghi, who on 21 January hinted at further economic stimulus, investors received more positive news after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “conditions for additional easing have fallen into place”.
China’s broad CSI 300 Index gained 1.01 percent while the mainland Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.25 percent.
“We continue to expect it to be a pretty tough grind for stocks in 2016”, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors.
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“This is a normal garden variety correction, with levels that set the playing field a little bit”, said Philip Blancato, chief executive at Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in NY.
