Global Markets Overview

U.S. stocks jumped Friday, sending major stock indexes to their highest close since early August and pushing both the Dow and the Nasdaq Composite back into positive territory for the year. The Dow industrials closed with a 166.36 point gain, or 1.5%, at 11644.49. The Dow is now ahead by 0.58% for 2011. Stocks were spurred higher after a positive reading on U.S. retail sales, signs of progress in Europe's sovereign-debt crisis and a stellar Google earnings report from Thursday. The session capped a 4.88% gain for the Dow this week, the biggest weekly gain since the week ended July 1 and capping a three-week winning streak that is its longest in six months. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 20.92 points, or 1.74%, to 1224.58, for its biggest weekly percentage gain since mid-July, 2009. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 47.61 points, or 1.82%, to 2667.85, capping its biggest weekly percentage gain since March 2009. Energy, materials and technology stocks led the S&P 500 as investors grabbed the stocks that are commonly associated with a risk on trading mentality. Overall trading was below average, however, with roughly 3.6 billion shares changing hands in New York Stock Exchange composite volume. A Commerce Department report showed that U.S. retail and food services sales rose 1.1% in September, outstripping forecasts. Investors' sanguine reaction to the data was a contrast with the sour mood evident in the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for early October, which came in lower than expected. Google jumped $32.69, or 5.9%, to 591.68, after the online-search company reported third quarter earnings that beat expectations by a wide margin. Revenue also topped forecasts as online ad sales accelerated. Apple gained 13.57, or 3.3%, to 422, with the arrival of the latest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S, at retail stores on Friday.

European markets ended higher Friday, led by gains for miners, technology stocks and car makers, while some banks were lower following a series of downgrades and warnings from brokers and credit-rating agencies. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.8% to close at 238.51. European markets extended their gains following better than expected retail sales data in the U.S. Among the winners in Europe, shares of Ericsson rose 3.9% after its mobile handset joint venture Sony Ericsson broke even in the third quarter and said it still expects modest industry growth in 2011. Other technology stocks also rose, with SAP AG climbing 2.1% after saying it still expects to hit the high end of its operating profit target. Strong earnings from Google Inc. late Thursday also added to the sector's momentum. Among other tech stocks, shares in chip maker STMicroelectronics NV rallied 3.6% in Paris, helping lift the CAC 40 index 1% to 3,217.89. Mining stocks were also higher as commodity prices rose across the board, helped by a slight softening in Chinese inflation. Among commodity stocks, shares in Vedanta Resources PLC rose 1.2% in London, while silver miner Fresnillo PLC added 1.9%, helping lift the FTSE 100 index 1.2% to 5,466.36. Italian oil major Eni SpA jumped 4.5% as the FTSE MIB index rose 2.5% to 16,289.6 after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government won a confidence vote in parliament. On the downside, several European bank stocks were lower. Shares in Commerzbank AG fell 4.9% in Frankfurt after Goldman Sachs downgraded the bank to neutral from buy. The DAX 30 index rose 0.9% to close at 5,967.20 as gains for technology and auto stocks offset the bank losses. Shares in BMW AG rose 3%.

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower Friday, retracing part of the recent rally as a modest slowing in Chinese inflation failed to kindle a rebound amid fresh concerns over regional economic growth and euro-zone debt. Regional markets started off on a weak footing after Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's long-term sovereign credit rating to AA-minus from AA Thursday. In another signal of heightened growth concerns among Asian policy makers, Singapore's central bank earlier Friday eased monetary policy for the first time in over two years in an expected move on the heels of the Indonesian central bank's surprise rate cut this week. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.9%, South Korea's Kospi Composite added 0.7% and India's Sensex was up 1.2%. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.3%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.4%. Singapore's Straits Times Index ended up 0.4%. Hong Kong and China shares declined despite the mainland's September consumer price index coming in slightly lower than expected, rising 6.1% from a year earlier, slower than August's 6.2% on-year increase, and below the median 6.2% expected. Mainland real estate stocks, which are sensitive to policy tightening, lost ground. In Hong Kong, China Resources Land was the worst blue-chip performer, tumbling 6.3%. Hong Kong-listed Evergrande Real Estate dropped 8.3%, while Shanghai-listed Gemdale fell 1.2%. Growth-sensitive metals stocks lost ground around the region. Jiangxi Copper's Hong Kong and Shanghai shares shed 2.4% and 0.4% respectively. Tokyo-listed Sumitomo Metal Mining shed 1.2%, Seoul-listed Posco was down 0.5% and Tata Steel lost 2.8% in Mumbai. In Tokyo, Olympus was the single-biggest drag on the Nikkei, dropping 17.6% following the company's announcement it had removed Michael Woodford, its first non-Japanese chief executive, from his roles as president and CEO after only six months. The company cited a large gap between Woodford and other executives over the direction of management.

Base metals closed mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange Friday as the euro surged to a four week high against the dollar, with investors optimistic that European leaders will make progress on the region's debt crisis at the weekend. LME copper for three-month delivery ended the session at $7,544.50 a metric ton, up 3.2% from Thursday's close. It had earlier climbed as high as $7,580/ton its highest level since Sept. 27. Crude oil futures prices surged 3.1% Friday on hopes of an economic recovery in the U.S. and expectations of a pending solution to the European debt crisis. Light, sweet crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 3.1%, or $2.57 a barrel, higher at $86.80 a barrel. That is the highest price since Sept. 20. The rise was the biggest since Oct. 6. Nymex crude gained $3.82 a barrel, or 4.6% in the week. ICE November Brent settled at a one-month high of $114.68, up 3.2%, or $3.57. The spread between North Sea Brent and the U.S. benchmark widened to a record $27.90 a barrel at Friday's settlement. The rise in the spread was helped by position adjustments related to the end of day expiration of the ICE November Brent contract. Gold futures ended higher as gains in other markets and hopes about the weekend's Group of 20 finance ministers' meeting buoyed prices. The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, settled $14.50, or 0.9%, higher at $1,683.00 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 3% this week, its second consecutive week of gains after a three week losing streak in September.

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