US Stocks

U.S. stocks rose Friday but failed to avoid a fourth-straight week of losses as major indexes recorded their longest weekly losing streak in more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.82 points, or 0.31%, to 12441.58, boosted by Bank of America, which rose 23 cents, or 2%, to $11.69. For the week, the blue-chip index fell 0.6%.

[Sign up to get reports daily]

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 5.41, or 0.41%, to 1331.10, boosted by materials and financial stocks. All 10 of the S&P 500's sectors finished Friday in positive territory. For the week, the S&P 500 edged 0.2% lower. Both indexes fell for a fourth-consecutive week, marking the longest weekly losing streak since February 2010. The declines, however, have been relatively muted; the Dow is down 2.9% while the S&P 500 has dropped 2.4% over the last four weeks. Trading volume, which was thin all week, was especially light Friday as investors prepared for the long Memorial Day weekend. Just 2.84 billion shares changed hands in NYSE composite volume, representing the lightest daily volume since Dec. 31. The daily average for NYSE Composite volume is 4.22 billion shares. All U.S. markets are closed Monday. The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite rose 13.94 points, or 0.5%, to 2796.86. Friday's gains were driven largely by some positive comments about global economic growth from the Group of Eight leading nations. The G-8 said the global economic situation is improving and the recovery is getting broader. The positive viewpoints outweighed a mixed batch of U.S. economic data. Spending by Americans slowed in April, a sign that rising prices for gasoline and groceries squeezed the economic recovery going into spring.

Europea Stocks

European stock markets finished higher Friday, as bank shares rallied and the Group of Eight said the global economic recovery was gaining strength. The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 0.7% to end at 279.05. For the week, however, the index slipped 0.2%. Among national indexes, the CAC 40 index rose 0.9% to 3,950.98, Germany's DAX 30 index closed 0.7% higher at 7,163.47, and the FTSE 100 index gained 1% to 5,938.87. Buoying investors' sentiment, the G-8 nations said that the global recovery is becoming more self sustained, even while noting that downside risks remain. Among the gainers, shares of Essar Energy PLC surged 5.3% after Deutsche Bank said the company's oil business is materially undervalued and reiterated its buy rating on the stock. Dexia SA, meanwhile, rallied 4.8% after saying it will accelerate its restructuring plan in order to boost earnings. The Financial Times report said draft legislation implementing the global standards could allow European Union banks to count more of the capital in their insurance units and allow some banks to continue issuing hybrid capital for longer than expected. Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas and Lloyds Banking Group PLC have insurance units and would particularly benefit, the FT said. The EU's commissioner for internal market and services, however, said that it would proceed with implementing Basel III capital requirements and that it won't be swayed by various pressures. In Brussels, KBC Group NV gained 2.1%; in Paris, Credit Agricole rallied 3.4%, BNP Paribas rose 2.3% and Societe Generale added 1.4%; in London, Lloyds Banking Group jumped 2.8%. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank AG rose 1.8%, but Commerzbank AG fell 0.8%.

Asian Stocks

Chinese stocks fell for a seventh straight session Friday as worries about inflation and slowing growth restrained buyers, while Japanese shares declined on concern over the nation's economic outlook and the yen's strength against the U.S. dollar. The two markets defied broad regional gains, which came as bargain buyers circled back into stocks bruised in a selloff earlier in the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1% to 23,118.07, Taiwan's Taiex edged up 0.3% to 8,810.00, and South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.4% to 2,100.24. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4% to 9,521.94, and China's Shanghai Composite was the region's worst performing benchmark index of the day and the week. It ended at 2,709.95, down 1% from the close on Thursday and 5.2% from its finish May 20. In addition to inflationary pressures and an expected economic slowdown in the second half of the year, investors in China have also been fretting over a potential liquidity squeeze because of the launch of a new board for foreign company listings in the future. Huaneng Power International declined 3.3%, Minmetals Development shed 4.1% and Zhongjin Gold fell 2.6%. Shares of PetroChina rose 0.8% after the company announced that parent China National Petroleum & Chemical has raised its stake in the firm by about 0.2% and planned to further increase its stake by up to 2.0%. In Hong Kong, the PetroChina stock shot up 3.8%. Exporters were generally crimped by a firm yen against the U.S. dollar, while Sony was also hurt after reporting a loss for the full-year ended March 2011, largely because of the impact from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Sony dropped 3.2%, while Honda Motor gave up 0.8% and Nintendo declined 0.9%.

Base Metals

Copper closed 2% higher on the London Metal Exchange Friday following across-the-board gains in the base metals as investors squared up ahead of a long weekend public holidays in both the U.K. and U.S. The red metal finished the afternoon open outcry session at $9,198 a metric ton, up $183 on Thursday's PM close. Aluminum the exchange's largest traded contract was, however, the strongest performer of the day. It closed up 2.4% at $2,624.50/ton and, together with copper, helped to drive the move higher across the complex. Tin also rose strongly, recovering from sharp losses in recent sessions by adding $575, or 2.1%, to its value and closing at $27,450/ton. Light, sweet crude oil futures prices settled above $100 a barrel for the third straight day Friday, while gasoline futures gained for a sixth day on worries over new refinery outages ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which kicks off the U.S. summer driving season. Refiners in Texas City, Texas, said they were restarting production units after experiencing the second city-wide power outage in as many months. The operational snags in the nation's refining belt come as gasoline and heating oil futures prices have been rallying on hopes of a turnaround in sluggish demand, while crude prices have budged little from $100 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 36 cents higher at $100.59 a barrel, up just $1.10 from a week ago. The price ended above $100 for the third straight day, the longest streak above the century mark since the beginning of the month, but nearly $15 a barrel below levels seen then. ICE July Brent crude settled 2 cents lower at $115.05 a barrel Friday, but gained $2.64, or 2.4%, in the week. Gold futures ended at their highest levels in more than three weeks, lifted by a weakening dollar and investor demand for a refuge because of worries about euro-zone sovereign debt. Gold for June delivery ended $13.50, or 0.9%, higher at $1,536.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest ending price since May 3 and the fifth day of gains in the last six sessions. Futures rose 1.8% on the week.

More from IBT Markets:
Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox daily
Follow us on Facebook.
Follow us on Twitter.