US markets snap best week of the year with over 3.5% of gains

US markets rose on Friday to snap their best week of the year so far on reports that Spain was expected to ask the euro zone on Saturday for money to bail out its troubled banks. European Union and German sources said eurozone finance ministers were to hold a conference call Saturday. Even US President Barack Obama statement that European leaders face an 'urgent need to act' to resolve the region's financial crisis as the threat of a renewed recession there spells dangers for an anemic US recovery, filled some optimism among the investors and all the major indices snapped the week with gains of over 3.5% each. On the economy front, the US trade deficit for April came in at $50.1 billion, roughly in line with analysts forecasts and down from the revised $52.6 billion in March. Wholesale inventories for April rose by 0.6%, after increasing by 0.3% in the prior month.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 93.24 points, or 0.75 percent, to end at 12,554.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 10.67 points, or 0.81 percent, to 1,325.66, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 27.40 points, or 0.97 percent, to close at 2,858.42.

 

The Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Friday, HDFC Bank was down by 0.47%, Wipro was down by 0.04% and Infosys was down by 0.26%.

 

On the other hand, ICICI Bank was up by 0.07%, Tata Motors was up by 0.14% and Sterlite Inds was up by 0.27%.