Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:36pm EST
* Stocks rally on JPMorgan earnings, economic data
* Brent crude hits $99 a barrel before February expiry
* Euro has best week since mid-2009, more gains expected
* Treasuries retreat as equity appeal draws investors (Adds byline,
close of U.S. markets)
By Herbert Lash and Al Yoon
NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - World stocks edged up on
Friday, with JP Morgan's strong earnings pushing Wall Street
higher, but China's latest move to tighten credit drove gold
to a one-week low, although oil prices rose.
A rise in Brent crude to above $99 a barrel helped lift
U.S. oil prices despite the increase in reserve requirements
at Chinese banks. For details see:
Wall Street rallied, with the benchmark S&P 500 Index
posting its seventh straight week of gains after JPMorgan
Chase & Co (JPM.N) reported a larger-than-expected 47 percent
increase in quarterly earnings.
Although sales at U.S. retailers rose slightly less than
expected in December, underlying inflation remained tame and
investors were cheered by other data that suggested the
recovery was modestly gathering strength. [ID:nN14146780]
Retail sales for 2010 reversed two years of contraction
with the biggest increase in more than a decade, while the
Federal Reserve reported a surprisingly large 0.8 percent gain
in output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities in December,
helped by cold weather.
The S&P Midcap 400 index .MID, which includes companies
with market caps ranging from $750 million to $3.3 billion,
surged to end the session at 931.07, an all-time closing
high.
"On balance, with supporting prices and in spite of mixed
economic data, there is expectation of a strong earnings
season," said Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management
in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 55.48 points,
or 0.47 percent, to close at 11,787.38. The Standard & Poor's
500 .SPX gained 9.48 points, or 0.74 percent, to finish at
1,293.24. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 20.01 points,
or 0.73 percent, to end at 2,755.30.
For the week, the Dow rose 1 percent, the S&P 500 added
1.7 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.9 percent.
U.S. financial markets will be closed on Monday for Martin
Luther King Jr. Day.
Source: Reuters.Com
