After stumbling slightly at the open, Wall Street pushed stocks higher late Friday to close positive for the fourth day in a row. It's the first four-day win streak for stocks since Nov. 28.
Traders reacted positively to a report that Citigroup (C) may not need additional capital and General Motors (GM) said its cost-cutting measures were working.
Today’s Markets
At the 4 p.m. close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 53.92 points, or 0.75%, to 7223.98, the S&P 500 gained 5.81 points, or 0.77%, to 754.55 while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 5.40 points, or 0.38%, to 1431.50. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 rose 3.93 points, or 0.70%, to 568.64.
With today's gains in the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq, stocks have now rallied four days in a row for the first time since Nov. 28. The Dow's weekly gain was 9%, based on preliminary estimates.
Most folks agree we have been dramatically oversold,” said Ted Weisberg a New York Stock Exchange trader with Seaport Securities. “We’re certainly now in a rally, but I don’t know how far it will it go. I don’t how much has changed economically from a week ago.”
The biggest Dow components were the financials, led primarily higher by the large but struggling banking giant Citigroup (C) along with JPMorgan Chase &Co. (JPM).
Those gains in the Dow were offset by declines in the credit card company American Express (AXP), while material companies Caterpillar (CAT)and Alcoa (AA) fell as well. United Technologies (UTX) was down as well after a price target downgrade from Deutsche Bank analysts.
The financials had a killing of a week. Citigroup soared 72% this week alone, while Bank of America shares jumped more than 83% in the same period. Other financial-related names like General Electric (GE) saw gains more than 35% during the week.
In an interview with Reuters, Citi Chairman Richard Parsons said the struggling bank does not need any more capital injections from the government.
"No, I think actually, particularly with the latest conversion," Parsons said, referring to the recent program where big stakeholders converted their preferred shares to common stock. "Citi is actually one of the better capitalized banks in the world."
The Wall Street Journal reported as well on Friday that Citi is preparing to nominate four financial experts, including two former banking executives, to be directors on the beleaguered financial giant.
The Journal reported that the candidates possibly include Jerry Grundhofer, former chief executive of U.S. Bancorp (USB); Michael O'Neill, former CEO of Bank of Hawaii Corp. and William S. Thompson, former co-head of bond investment house Pimco.
Outside of the financials, traders said there has been a general upward momentum in the market that is also lifting stocks. After falling nearly 20% this year alone, traders have said the market has been due for what’s known as a bear market rally.
"The psychology of the market has definitely changed from 'where's the bottom' to 'was that the bottom?'" Bob Iaccino with Lotusbrokerage.com told FOXBusiness.
In the commodity markets, oil was down $1.35 to $46.62 a barrel while gold was now up $4.80 to $928.90 a troy ounce.
Company News
Shares of General Motors (GM) soared on Friday after the company's chief financial officer said that the company's cost-cutting measures were "working." This comes after the car company said Thursday that it would not immediately need $2 billion in government aid.
Fitch Ratings cut its credit rating on Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) to one step below AAA, citing market volatility. But it also noted that Berkshire remains too closely linked to Warren Buffett to merit a 'AAA' rating.
Time Warner (TWX) announced Thursday evening that Google (GOOG) executive Tim Armstrong would replace AOL's chairman and chief executive Randy Falco.
Pfizer (PFE) said it would freeze all executive salary levels for 2009, mostly as a response to save cash in a struggling economy. Pfizer's Chief Executive Jeff Kindler made $1.58 million last year.
Global Markets
Markets in both Asia and Europe rose on hopes for new economic stimulus measures in China and Japan.Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark index jumped 5.15% overnight, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared 4.37% overnight as well.
In Europe, London's FTSE100 closed up 1.12% to 3753.68 while Germany's DAXfell slightly by 0.07% to 4953.60 and Paris' CAC40 gained 0.42% to 2705.63.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the Chinese Government is ready to roll out even more measures, while Japan's prime minister is calling for a new stimulus package.
Wen also said in comments he was worried about the relative safety of U.S. Treasuries, not a promising sign for futures Treasury demand saying China is the largest purchaser of U.S. government debt in the world.
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