Dow up 115 as stocks rally ahead of Greek election

Updated: 7:41 p.m. ET

Stocks rallied Friday, finishing higher for a second week in a row on relief that central banks around the world stand ready to ensure that global financial markets don't seize up after Sunday's parliamentary election in Greece.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) gained more than 100 points for a second straight day, in part because of options and futures expirations.

The gains certainly had little to with the domestic economy. There was a larger-than-expected​ decline in industrial production in May, a significant weakening in a closely watched measure of consumer confidence and a decline in manufacturing growth in New York State.

The stakes in Greece are big enough that JPMorgan analysts believe that a victory by the conservative New Democracy party would boost the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) by 26 points, or about 2%, and add about 10 basis points -- a tenth of a percentage point -- to the 10-year Treasury yield, which finished today at 1.587%, down from Thursday's 1.611%. A win by the leftist Syriza Party would cut the S&P 500 by 3% from the S&P 500 and knock 12 basis points from the 10-year yield.

The Dow closed up 96 points to 12,748. The S&P 500 had added 12 points to 1,341, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was sporting a gain of 34 points to 2,870.

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The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) had gained 31 points to 2,571. Apple (AAPL), normally the biggest influence on the index, rebounded from a loss to $569.55 and closed up $2.60 to $574.13, contributing 2.2 points to the index's gain.

It was a week with interesting performances. Facebook (FB) jumped $1.72 to $30.01, its first finish above $30 since May 25 and a 10.8% gain for the week.

Banks jumped as central banks promised to ensure adequate liquidity on Monday and beyond.

Natural gas futures (-NG) fell back today but ended the week up 7.3% to $2.467 per million British thermal units, suggesting to many that gas has finally bottomed after falling to 10-year lows.

The Dow finished the week up 1.7%. The S&P 500 gained 1.3%, and the Nasdaq and Nasdaq-100 were up 0.5%.

For the year, the blue chips are up 4.5%, with the S&P 500 up 6.8% and the Nasdaq up 10.3%.

Markets for the week
			6/15/2012			6/8/2012			% chg.			YTD chg.
Dow Industrials			12,767.17			12,554.20			1.70%			4.50%
S&P 500			1,342.84			1,325.66			1.30%			6.78%
Nasdaq			2,872.80			2,858.42			0.50%			10.27%
Russell 2000			771.35			769.19			0.28%			4.11%
Crude oil			$84.03			$84.10			-0.08%			-14.98%
(per barrel)			0.00			0.00			0.00%			0.00%
U.S. Dollar Index			81.61			82.56			-1.16%			1.34%
10-yr. Treasury			1.59%			1.64%			-3.05%			-15.18%
Gold			$1,628.10			1,591.40			2.31%			3.91%

Bankers warn about Greece's threat
Central banks intensified warnings Friday that Europe’s failure to tame its debt crisis threatens the global economy as Greece’s election in two days looms as the next flashpoint for investors.

A victory by Syriza, the party that promises to renege on Greece’s end of the bailout, could speed the nation’s exit from the euro. The New Democracy Party has promised to stay in the eurozone and continue the country's austerity program, even as Greece suffers through a 5th year of recession.

Greek stocks actually had a big rally all week. The Athens Index COMPOS rose 13.7% to 560.26. While public polling on the election has been put on hold, private polls suggest the New Democracy party is leading. Spain's IBEX-35 Index ($ES:IBEX) rose 2.6%, but Italy's FTSE-MIB Index ($IT:FTSEMIB) slipped 0.4%.

The Group of 20 leaders prepare to gather in Mexico next week, and the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some investors think the lackluster U.S. data increases the chances that the Federal Reserve will signal more easy money to counter slowing growth when it releases its policy statement after the meeting.

Meanwhile, international banking regulars were close to easing a requirement that banks maintain big cushions of liquid assets like cash and bonds that can survive market meltdowns and other crises, The Wall Street Journal said. The rule change would allow other assets, including gold and stock, to be counted as part of liquidity buffers.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Fri.			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$84.03			$83.91			-2.89%			-14.98%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$2.6465			$2.6278			-2.10%			-9.19%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.4670			$2.4950			1.86%			-17.46%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.7017			$2.6764			-0.77%			1.67%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$97.61			$97.17			-4.18%			-9.10%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.5240			$3.5320			-2.65%			7.57%
(per gallon; AAA)

Bank of America, Chevron lead the Dow
Microsoft (MSFT), up 68 cents to $30.02, contributed 5.1 points to the Nasdaq-100 gain on a Wall Street Journal report that it's buying Yammer, which builds internal social-networking sites for business. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)

Microsoft was also the third-best performer among the 30 Dow stocks, following Bank of America (BAC) and Chevron (CVX). The laggards were Home Depot (HD) and Procter & Gamble (PG).

Energy, materials and technology were the strongest sectors of the market, but telecom and healthcare stocks are the strongest sectors for the week.

A total of 446 S&P 500 stocks were higher today. Natural-gas producer WPX Energy (WPX) was the top S&P 500 performer, rising 82 cents to $14.79. The gain came as natural prices moved nearly 8% higher for the week.

WPX was followed by telecommunications company Frontier Communications (FTR), up 21 cents to $3.93, women's accessorizer Fossil (FOSL), up $3.80 to $75.49 and travel site Expedia (EXPE), up $2.52 to $50.05.

Zimmer Holdings (ZMH), the maker of joint replacement devices, was the top S&P 500 performer for much of the day but finished 13th. Shares closed at $63.20, up $2.57, after rival Biomet reported a 3.4% gain in fiscal-fourth-quarte​r sales to $739.5 million. U.S. revenue was up 7%, privately held Biomet said. European revenue fell 8%.

The S&P 500 laggards were Southwest Airlines (LUV), down 27 cents to $8.93, and Rockwell Collins (COL), off $1 to $49.07.

Eighty-seven Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Nuance Communications (NUAN), up $1.17 to $21.85, and Expedia.

Whole Foods Market (WFM), Ross Stores (ROST), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Dollar General (DG), Dollar Tree (DLTR) and Seattle Genetics (SGEN) were among stocks hitting all-time highs today.

Today was a Quadruple Witching day. That meant options for indexes and stocks and futures for indexes and options are expiring and generated more than-usual volume and helped stocks move higher.

Crude oil and gold move higher
Crude oil (-CL) rallied in late trading and settled up 12 cents to $84.03 a barrel. Crude fell slightly on the week. Brent crude was up 54 cents to $97.51 a barrel.

The national average price of gasoline fell to $3.524 a gallon Friday from Thursday's $3.532, AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report said. That brings the decline in unleaded gasoline to about 10.5% since peaking in early April, though the price is still up 7.6% on the year.

Gold (-GC) settled up $8.50 to $1,628.10 an ounce. Silver (-SI) closed up 33.3 cents to $28.74 an ounce, and copper (-HG) finished up 2.9 cents to $3.3835 a pound. For the week, gold was up 2.3% and is up 3.9% for the year. Silver rose 0.9% for the week, while copper was up 3%.

Interest rates were lower, despite the dollar's moving lower against the euro.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Fri.			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0900%			0.100%			28.57%			800.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.678%			0.720%			1.04%			-18.31%
10-year Treasury note			1.587%			1.611%			0.38%			-15.18%
30-year Treasury bond			2.694%			2.708%			0.82%			-6.75%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			81.605			81.988			-1.83%			1.34%
British pound			1.5625			1.5559			1.38%			0.56%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.640			£0.643			-1.36%			-0.56%
Euro in dollars			$1.26			$1.26			2.11%			-2.59%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.792			€ 0.792			-2.06%			2.66%
U.S. $ in yen			78.93			79.41			0.47%			2.37%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.39			6.37			0.18%			1.05%
yuan
Canada dollar			$0.977			$0.978			0.90%			-0.39%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.024			$1.023			-0.90%			0.39%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,628.10			$1,619.60			4.09%			3.91%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.384			$3.355			0.53%			-1.53%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$28.7400			$28.4070			3.54%			2.96%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.0950			$6.2350			-5.32%			-6.63%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$5.7950			$6.015			4.37%			-10.36%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7088			0.703			-1.35%			-22.69%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.5200			1.5105			-6.72%			-33.81%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$84.03			$83.91			-2.89%			-14.98%
(per barrel)