4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM Sydney – U.S. stocks raced ahead after the release of January retail sales data and weekly crude oil inventories report.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 178.83 or 1.45% to a close of 12,552.24, S&P 500 closed up 18.34 or 1.36% to 1,367.20, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 53.89 or 2.32% to a close of 2,373.93. In Toronto TSX Composite closed higher 182.95 or 1.40% to close at 13,270.33.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 24 closed higher, 6 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

AIG led the decliners for the second time this week in the Dow Jones index with a loss of 1.4% followed by losses in DuPont of 1%, General Motors of 0.8%, and in Coca Cola of 0.8%. Alcoa led the gainers in the index with a rise of 5% followed by increases in American Express of 4%, in Hewlett Packard of 3.33%, and in AT&T of 3.01%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 387 closed higher, 110 fell, and 3 were unchanged. Of the index stocks, 26 rose more than 3% and equal number of 26 stocks fell more than 3%.

Jones Apparel led the gainers in the index with a rise of 11% followed by increases in Applied Materials of 10.2%, in Qwest Communications of 7.4%, in Network Appliance of 7%, and in Teradata of 6.6%. MGIC Investments led the decliners in the index with a fall of 11% followed by losses in Dean Foods of 6%, in Brown Forman of 4.5%, and in GameStop of 3.6%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Chile led the gainers in the region with a rise of 1.70% followed by increases in Mexico of 1.51%, in Brazil of 1.27%, in Peru of 0.29%, and in Colombia of 0.19%. Venezuela fell 1.77%.

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 29.90 or 0.51% to 5,880.10, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 14.69 or 0.30% to close at 4,855.40 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 5.83 or 0.08% to close at 6,973.67. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 10.44 or 0.14% to close at 7,536.45.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed higher 46.34 or 0.36% to 13,068.30, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased 247.88 or 1.08% closed to 23,169.55. Australia ASX 200 index decreased 66.00 or 1.18% to close 5,542.10.
In South Korea Kospi Index decreased 11.55 or 0.70% to close at 1,631.78, in Thailand SET index closed higher 11.92 or 1.46% to 829.41 and Indonesia JSE Index edged increased 18.71 or 0.72% to 2,610.78. Sensex index in India increased 341.10 or 2.05% to 16,949.14.

Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.72% and on 30-year bonds rose to 4.53%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil added $0.48 to close at $93.26 per barrel for a front month contract, natural gas decreased 5 cents to $8.39 per mBtu, and gasoline futures increased 2.20 cents to close at 239.00 cents per gallon.

Gold decreased $3.00 in New York trading to close at $908.10 per ounce, silver closed up 4 cents to $17.29 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery decreased 2.00 cents to 354.95 per pound and in London copper futures increased $126.00 to $7,923.00.

Wheat futures fell 21 cents in Chicago trading and closed at $9.09 per bushel. Sugar increased 0.41 cents to 13.26 cents per pound. Soybean future closed up 8.50 cents to $13.47 per bushel.

Dollar edged higher but traded near record lows against euro to $1.4570 and edged higher against yen to 108.32.