Strong U.S. Earnings Give Markets a Lift

Several high-profile American companies, such as the investment bank Goldman Sachs Group, the chip maker Intel Corp. and the all delivered earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

That, alongside positive housing data, has helped stocks advance in the run-up to the Easter weekend, when many of the world’s leading stock exchanges will be closed for four days.

“The reporting season continues to provide fuel for the fire,” the head of research at IG Index, Anthony Grech, said.

The FTSE 100 in London was up 2.2 percent while the DAX in Frankfurt rose 2.7 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris was 2.3 percent higher.

Futures trading indicated that Wall Street was poised for further solid gains following Tuesday’s rebound.

On Monday, Wall Street shares posted their biggest one-day drop in over a month after a warning from Standard Poor’s that the federal government’s credit rating had a one-in-three chance of being downgraded, given the state of the public finances and worries that policymakers won’t be able to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan.

That had consequences around the world, with indexes in Europe tracking Wall Street’s decline. Asian markets retreated when they opened for business Tuesday before the earnings statements and the housing data helped calm the waters.

Earlier in Asia on Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.8 percent to close at 9,606.82 despite a government report showing that exports for March dropped for the first time in 16 months — one of many consequences felt from the mammoth earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast region last month. The index is down more than 6 percent since the March 11 disaster.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.6 percent to 23,896.10. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 3,007.04. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand also rose.

In the oil markets, prices remained elevated as the fighting in Libya continues. Benchmark crude for June delivery was up $1.31 to $109.59 a barrel in New York trading.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/business/21markets.html?partner=rss&emc=rss