Monday, October 15, 2012

Global stocks rise on Spain bets and data

Global stocks rose on Monday on upbeat U.S. data and earnings and on bets Spain was close to asking for a bailout.

US stocks climbed, rebounding from last week's losses after Citigroup's earnings and retail sales sharply exceeded expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.38 points, or 0.72 percent, to 13,424.23. The S&P 500 gained 11.54 points, or 0.81 percent, to 1,440.13. The Nasdaq Composite added 20.07 points, or 0.66 percent, to 3,064.18.

European equities edged higher, supported by signs Spain is moving closer to asking for a bailout, and thus to kick-starting a keenly-awaited central bank rescue plan.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 closed up 0.5 percent at 1,098.36 points. The EuroSTOXX 50 index of euro zone blue chips added 0.7 percent to 2,485.12 points.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.5 percent as investors turned buyers after a broad sell-off last week, though concerns lingered over the earnings outlook for Japanese corporates.

The Nikkei closed 0.5 percent up at 8,577.93 yen, recovering from a 2-month low struck on Friday after losing 3.7 percent on the week due to worries over profit warnings at the outset of the earnings season.