Stocks on Wall Street extended their rally to a sixth day as the second quarter reporting season kicked off with better-than-expected results.The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 7% during its recent winning streak, posting the best six-day perform
Stocks on Wall Street extended their rally to a sixth day as the second quarter reporting season kicked off with better-than-expected results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 7% during its recent winning streak, posting the best six-day performance in more than 14 months.
Earnings from aluminium giant Alcoa and railroad operator CSX bolstered hopes that second-quarter results would show a strengthening business environment, though one still vulnerable to global weakness.
Emboldened by the strong earnings reports, investors flooded into riskier assets—small-cap stocks and commodities climbed.
The Dow closed 146.29 159 points, or 1.4%, up at 10,362.56 with all but one of the blue-chip index's 30 components advancing.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.0% to 2242.03 while the S&P 500 index was up 1.5% to 1095.26.
Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stocks finished sharply higher, helped by Wall Street’s rally and with autos leading the advance after BMW raised its 2010 guidance.
BMW rose 8.3% after the company said pretax profit in 2010 was set to rise more than anticipated and it lifted its vehicle-sales guidance for this year. Daimler added 5.4%.
Oil giant BP rose 2.9% as investors reacted favourably to the installation of a new cap on the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 1.9% at 255.99. The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 2% to 5271.02, France's CAC-40 index ended up 2% at 3637.76 and Germany's DAX added 1.9% to 6191.13.
Most Asian stock markets fell, dragged down by losses in Chinese shares after Beijing dashed hopes that it would relax its efforts to rein in the property market.
China's Shanghai Composite index ended down 1.6% at 2450.29, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% to 20431.06.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended down 0.1% at 9537.23,
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 skidded 0.7% to 4380.30, and Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.6% to 7597.42.
India's Sensex Index gained 0.3% to 17985.90 and Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.1% to 2928.70.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude futures rose as the International Energy Agency upgraded its forecasts for oil demand this year.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery traded $US1.94, or 2.6%, higher at $US76.89 a barrel in New York, overtaking Monday's losses. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $US2.11 higher at $US76.48 a barrel.
The IEA raised its estimates for world oil demand slightly to 86.5 million barrels a day, a rise of 2.6%. However, it expects oil demand to slow next year in China and most other parts of the world. Prices are expected to average $79.40 a barrel.
Gold futures rose to one-week highs after Portugal's debt rating was downgraded in the latest reminder of lingering insecurity in the global financial system.
The most actively traded contract for August delivery was up $US17.60, or 1.5%, at $US1,216.30 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro up, dollar down
The US dollar is broadly lower as optimism driven by strong corporate earnings lured investors into stocks and more risk-sensitive currencies.
The euro was able to erase its earlier losses and shift higher against the dollar, bolstered by a successful T-bill auction in Greece along with the gains in US equities. Other risk-sensitive currencies such as the UK pound and Canadian dollar also rose against the US dollar.
The euro was at $US1.2691 from $US1.2593 late on Monday. It touched a high of $US1.2702 before receding slightly. The euro was at ¥111.78 from ¥111.62, while the dollar fell to ¥88.11 from ¥88.62.
The pound rose to $US1.5165 from $US1.5031 after making it down as far as $US1.4966.
