Investing.com – Wall Street pushed higher on Friday on optimism over the global economy as oil soared 6% and market participants digested comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials.
At 15:44GMT or 11:44AM ET, the Dow Jones rose 55 points, or 0.31%, while the S&P 500 gained 8 points, or 0.37%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite inched up 1 point, or 0.02%.
Markets on both sides of the Atlantic registered gains on Friday as traders appeared to take a positive read from mixed news on the global economy.
After the market close on Thursday, Fed chair Janet Yellen insisted that the U.S. was not a “bubble economy” and pointed to “healing” labor market with unemployment at 5%, although the U.S central bank chief insisted that gradual increases to interest rates was the appropriate monetary policy due to downside risks.
China’s Premier Premier Li Keqiang also said on Friday that the economic indicators for the world’s second largest economy showed improvement in the first quarter. But he too was cautious, noting that those improvements were not solid due to the impact of the sluggish world economy and market volatility.
Germany, the motor of the euro zone economy, also produced some positive news as the country’s exports increased at the fastest pace since last September, outstripping consensus forecasts. Moody’s also said that it expected the euro area’s largest economy to slightly accelerate in 2016 thanks to relatively strong domestic demand. Still some experts warned caution over the economic data pointing out that the strength of the euro was apt to keep German products at an expensive level abroad.
In any case, the positive take on the above news was also used as part of the explanation for the 6% surge in oil prices on Friday even as investors still waited for the U.S. rig count data from Baker Hughes.
U.S. crude futures skyrocketed 5.93% to $39.47 by 15:45GMT, or 11:45AM ET, while Brent oil soared 5.53% to $41.61.
The only economic data point for the day seemed to be in direct contrast to the upbeat read on the global economy as U.S. wholesale inventories fell at their fastest pace in nearly three years in February, pointing to slower growth than originally thought for the world’s largest economy.
In a slow day for company news, Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) decided to give bidders another week delaying the deadline for offers until April 18.
Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) tumble more than 12% in pre-market trade after March same-store sales fell 6%, compared to analysts who were looking for a 4.3% decline.
Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) gained 1.5% after announcing on Thursday that it received four orders for its 747-8 freighter, marking the first sales of the plane for this year.