Stock Market Watch

Stocks End Higher for the Week

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Stocks ended higher for the week, with the S&P 500 posting its highest weekly gaining gain since July 2009. The performance of the U.S. and European equity markets this week suggests that investors are pouring money back into risk assets after the turmoil in August and September.

For the week ended October 14, the Dow Jones ended 4.88% higher, the S&P 500 ended 5.98% higher and the Nasdaq ended the day 7.60% higher.


European leaders this week showed a lot more aggressive approach in solving the euro zone debt crisis, giving confidence to investors. Earlier in the week, the President of the European Commission came out with a plan to recapitalize euro zone banks and support Greece.

On Friday, finance ministers of the G20 countries began a three-day meeting in Paris. The main agenda of the meeting will the euro zone debt crisis. The meeting is also being attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. The Treasury Secretary is likely to put pressure on euro zone countries to come up with a concrete plan to contain the debt crisis.

The week also saw some solid economic data released in the U.S. On Friday, the Commerce Department released better than expected retail sales data for the month of September. The figures showed a 1.1% rise in retail sales for the month of September.

However, Chinese trade data released on Thursday raised worries about a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. China reported a narrower trade surplus for the month of September as exports fell.

The earnings season also kicked-off in the U.S. this week. Although the earnings season began on a weak note, with Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reporting disappointing results for the third quarter, sentiment was lifted towards the end of the week as Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) delivered solid third-quarter financial results. JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) also reported its third-quarter financial results this week.

 

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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