Mid-Day Market Update

Shawshank, VA 9/16/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Despite signs of caution in the pre-market period, Wall Street has pushed further higher in the opening stages of Friday's session. Stocks are going for their fifth consecutive day of gains, in a week dominated by news out of Europe.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 94 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,526.80. The Nasdaq is higher by 18 points, or 0.7 percent, at 2,624.80. The S&P 500 is climbing nearly 10 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,218.73.

The main engine behind this week's advance has been easing fears about the financial crisis in Europe. The announcement that the world's major central banks would facilitate liquidity for European banks in the event of a financial crisis helped reduce concerns about a possible Lehman-like event there.

Meanwhile, European financial leaders are meeting in Poland, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in attendance. He told his counterparts in Europe that they needed to take steps to get their financial troubles under control.

A decision about a Greek bailout has been pushed out. The European Union is now slated to make a decision on the next installment of the plan in October.

In London, the UBS trader who allegedly lost $2 billion in unauthorized transactions has been taken into custody. Police arrested 31-year-old Kweku Adoboli on charges of fraud and false accounting.

Friday has been something of a respite after the rush of economic data earlier in the week. However, one key report on consumer confidence was released.

In its preliminary reading for September, the Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index came in at 57.8. This was up from the final reading of 55.7 for August.

Economists had expected an advance for the index, but the increase was more pronounced than many had predicted.

Overseas, Europe continues to show strong gains. Germany is leading the way with an advance of 1.9 percent. The U.K. is up 0.8 percent, while France is posting a gain of 0.7 percent.

In Asia, Japan climbed 2.25 percent. Hong Kong was up 1.4 percent.

PennyPayDay Disclaimer

Distributed by Viestly