NEW YORK - US markets surged for a second straight day Friday following similar rises in Europe and Asia, despite the nuclear emergency in Japan and more tensions on the oil-rich Arabian peninsula.
A cease-fire declaration in Libya and Group of Seven intervention to prevent the yen from surging further, as well as the Federal Reserve's green light for major banks to pay or increase their dividends, provided a boost for the market.
But they drifted lower through the afternoon as a weekend full of uncertainties loomed -- over whether the cease-fire would hold, whether Japan would be able to prevent a nuclear meltdown, and whether tensions in Bahrain, Yemen and oil giant Saudi Arabia would escalate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue chips closed up 83.93 points (0.71 percent) to 11,858.52 while the broader S&P 500 added 5.49 (0.43 percent) to 1,279.21.
The tech-driven Nasdaq Composite picked up 7.62 points (0.29 percent) at 2,643.67.
"In tentative trading today that included options expiration, stocks managed to end the day in the green, responding today primarily to coordinated currency intervention by the G7 to stop the surge in the Japanese yen," said brokers at Charles Schwab.
"The market continues to fight the negative macroeconomic events and resist breaking down to lower levels," said Michael James of Wedbush Morgan securities.
Some banks -- but not all -- surged after the Federal Reserve gave them permission to begin paying, or increasing, dividends, and engage in share buybacks, after a moratorium dating back to the financial crisis.
Coming after a round of stress tests for the biggest 19 banking groups, the move it was a new sign of the sector's emergence from the 2008-2009 housing finance collapse.
The strong banks during the crisis -- JPMorgan Chase, including BB&T, Wells Fargo, and US Bancorp -- immediately announced a rash of higher dividends and share repurchases.
JPMorgan put on 2.65 percent, BB&T rose 0.5 percent, US Bancorp rose 1.1 percent and Wells Fargo gained 1.5 percent.
Retail banking giants Citigroup (up 1.1 percent) and Bank of America (up 0.4 percent) did not announce dividends.
In a spin-off from the Fed's move, Goldman Sachs added 2.7 percent after announcing it was buying back the $5 billion of shares it sold to billionaire Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway in the crisis in 2008.
Berkshire had extracted a massive 10 percent dividend -- $500 million a year -- from Goldman for the bailout deal, and was getting an extra $500 million in the buyback as a pre-payment fee. Berkshire shares gained 0.5 percent.
Sports shoe maker Nike sank 9.2 percent after a disappointing third quarter report, which said it had been pushing up retail prices to pass on the spiking costs of raw materials.
The bond market fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.28 percent from 3.25 late Thursday, while the 30-year note was flat at 4.43 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
- AFP /ls
A cease-fire declaration in Libya and Group of Seven intervention to prevent the yen from surging further, as well as the Federal Reserve's green light for major banks to pay or increase their dividends, provided a boost for the market.
But they drifted lower through the afternoon as a weekend full of uncertainties loomed -- over whether the cease-fire would hold, whether Japan would be able to prevent a nuclear meltdown, and whether tensions in Bahrain, Yemen and oil giant Saudi Arabia would escalate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue chips closed up 83.93 points (0.71 percent) to 11,858.52 while the broader S&P 500 added 5.49 (0.43 percent) to 1,279.21.
The tech-driven Nasdaq Composite picked up 7.62 points (0.29 percent) at 2,643.67.
"In tentative trading today that included options expiration, stocks managed to end the day in the green, responding today primarily to coordinated currency intervention by the G7 to stop the surge in the Japanese yen," said brokers at Charles Schwab.
"The market continues to fight the negative macroeconomic events and resist breaking down to lower levels," said Michael James of Wedbush Morgan securities.
Some banks -- but not all -- surged after the Federal Reserve gave them permission to begin paying, or increasing, dividends, and engage in share buybacks, after a moratorium dating back to the financial crisis.
Coming after a round of stress tests for the biggest 19 banking groups, the move it was a new sign of the sector's emergence from the 2008-2009 housing finance collapse.
The strong banks during the crisis -- JPMorgan Chase, including BB&T, Wells Fargo, and US Bancorp -- immediately announced a rash of higher dividends and share repurchases.
JPMorgan put on 2.65 percent, BB&T rose 0.5 percent, US Bancorp rose 1.1 percent and Wells Fargo gained 1.5 percent.
Retail banking giants Citigroup (up 1.1 percent) and Bank of America (up 0.4 percent) did not announce dividends.
In a spin-off from the Fed's move, Goldman Sachs added 2.7 percent after announcing it was buying back the $5 billion of shares it sold to billionaire Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway in the crisis in 2008.
Berkshire had extracted a massive 10 percent dividend -- $500 million a year -- from Goldman for the bailout deal, and was getting an extra $500 million in the buyback as a pre-payment fee. Berkshire shares gained 0.5 percent.
Sports shoe maker Nike sank 9.2 percent after a disappointing third quarter report, which said it had been pushing up retail prices to pass on the spiking costs of raw materials.
The bond market fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.28 percent from 3.25 late Thursday, while the 30-year note was flat at 4.43 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
- AFP /ls
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