4:25 pm : Friday's trading concluded with hefty gains for investors. The stock market finished the session 1.8% higher, which positioned it to end the week 4.3% higher.
The positive tone to Friday's trading was apparent from the start. A positive earnings surprise from Google (GOOG 539.41, +89.87) helped set the tone. The company announced after yesterday's close that earnings for its most recent quarter totaled $4.84 per share, which was better than the $4.52 per share that analysts expected. Google's strong performance helped the tech sector (+3.4%) outperform the other major economic sectors.
Citigroup (C 25.11, +1.08) announced this morning a $5 billion loss, or $1.02 per share, for its most recent quarter, amid $12 billion in write-downs and asset adjustments. Though the quarter's loss was worse than Wall Street expected, investors viewed the news as better than feared. In turn, Citi traded noticeably higher, providing leadership to the financial sector (+1.8%).
Investment banks and brokerages (+3.4%) also lent support to the financial sector, helping it for the second consecutive session. Goldman Sachs (GS 179.93, +7.83) and Lehman Brothers (LEH 45.50, +1.86) were leaders in the group.
The session's broad-based buying interest was helped by industrial players Honeywell (HON 60.99, +3.59) and Caterpillar (CAT 85.28, +6.69). Both companies announced better than expected quarterly profits this morning.
Crude oil hit $117 per barrel in electronic trading, which is a new all-time high. The commodity closed up $1.68 at $116.54 per barrel on the Nymex, which is a new closing high.
Oil driller Schlumberger (SLB 101.85, +6.55) made sizeable gains Friday. The company actually reported earnings for its most recent quarter that missed expectations. But investors considered the miss and the rise in oil as a buying opportunity. The energy sector finished 1.9% higher.
With the buying interest strongly focused on stocks, the 10-year Treasury note was largely out of favor Friday. The yield on the 10-year note climbed to more than 3.8%, its highest level in more than a month. However, buying interest returned to the 10-year Treasury late in the day; it finished one tick higher, yielding 3.72%.DJ30 +228.87 NASDAQ +61.14 NQ100 +3.2% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.5% SP500 +24.77 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 810/2132/2.21 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 692/2434/1.48 bln
