Stocks finish second-best week this year
Christopher Culhane of Barclays Capital works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last week. Global stocks remained buoyed Friday by the decision of five top central banks to provide unlimited amounts of dollar loans to the banking sector, easing one of the concerns driving the recent turbulence in financial markets of late. (Sept. 6, 2011) Credit: AP
The stock market finished its second-best week in a year Friday as Europe's debt problems appeared to get closer to a resolution.
Stocks ended higher for a fifth straight day, the longest winning streak in 2½ months. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on European finance ministers at a meeting in Poland to reach a solution on Greece's debt problems.
The Standard & Poor's 500 finished the week with a 5.4 percent gain. It was the biggest increase for the broad market index since the first week of July.
The Dow rose 75.91 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 11,509.09. The Dow jumped 186 points Thursday, its biggest gain of the week, after five central banks said they would act together to support European lenders with unlimited dollar loans.
The S&P index gained 6.90, or 0.57 percent, to 1,216.01. The Nasdaq added 15.24, or 0.58 percent to 2,622.31.
Officials from countries that use the euro met in Poland to discuss solutions to the long-simmering debt problems affecting the region. The group said it would not decide until next month whether Greece has qualified for its next round of bailout money. Investors had been hoping the question would be decided sooner.
Antony Conroy, head trader for BNY ConvergEx Group, said traders' sentiment was mixed. Some were picking up stocks they thought were undervalued, while others were selling because of long-term concerns about Europe.
"Even though we've had a good couple of days, people still believe there's a good chance that the credit crisis in Europe is going to cause something like a 2008 event," he said.
Stocks rose every day this week, their first five-day winning streak since July. The Dow rose 4.7 percent this week but is still down 0.9 percent for the month. The S&P is down 0.2 percent in September.
Rising and falling shares were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was above average at 4.6 billion shares.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 25: Wrestling and hockey state championships On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg Sarra and Matt Lindsay recap all the state wrestling action from Albany this past weekend, plus Jared Valluzzi has the ice hockey championship results from Binghamton.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 25: Wrestling and hockey state championships On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg Sarra and Matt Lindsay recap all the state wrestling action from Albany this past weekend, plus Jared Valluzzi has the ice hockey championship results from Binghamton.
