Dow Drives to New ’09 Highs

Wall Street’s march to Dow 10000 made another advance on Friday as the blue-chip index settled at its highest level in more than a year in the face of a Bernanke-induced greenback rally.

The stock market is keeping its momentum going, giving shares their best week in more than two months. Moderate gains on Friday led by health care and utility stocks pushed major indexes to their best weekly performance since July. A rebound in the dollar weighed on energy and material stocks.

The stock market's seven-month rally was put firmly back on track this week after two down weeks driven by disappointing economic data. Major stock indicators rose 4 percent for the week.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.07 points, or 0.80%, to 9864.94, the S&P 500 gained 6.01 points, or 0.56%, to 1071.49 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 15.35 points, or 0.72%, to 2139.28.

For the week, the Dow rose 4 percent, its biggest gain since the week ended July 24. The S&P 500 index rose 4.5 percent, its best performance since the week ended July 17.

Friday’s rally capped off a spectacular week for the bulls as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended in the green each day amid a rough week for the dollar, new evidence the economic recovery is taking hold and an upbeat start to earnings season.

A week after suffering their worst week since mid-July, the markets enjoyed their strongest weekly gain since the end of July.

The latest gains came in the face of a solid rebound for the crumbling greenback, which had boosted commodities and hopes for multinationals all week, and appeared to be fueled by continued optimism about earnings season.

“We’ve got earnings season really kicking off next with a lot of the financials. I think what we’re seeing is investors are positioning themselves accordingly, expecting good numbers and good forecasts coming out next week,” Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners, told FOX Business.
The bullishness leaves the benchmark index within striking distance of the psychologically-important Dow 10000 threshold, an area it hasn't seen in a year.

“We’re getting closer to that level that everyone is focused on,” commented NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities. “It’s just a number but it's going to be a big deal when we get there.”