Dow up 67 as stocks see relief from Thursday loss

Updated: 6:29 p.m. ET

Powered by a surprising surge in financial stocks, the stock market enjoyed a solid rally today that pushed technology stocks higher for the week and very nearly pulled the entire stock market into the black as well.

The rally was helped by leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain agreeing to put together a package of tools to promote growth in the European economy. There are differences enough among them, however, that a summit next week of all the eurozone countries could prove difficult.

Financial stocks moved higher after Moody's Investors Service downgraded its ratings of 15 of the world's largest banking companies. The group includes JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Moody's had warned in February that the downgrades were coming, but they weren't as bad as expected. JPMorgan was the best performer of the U.S. members of the group, up 48 cents to $35.99. The stock was up 3.1% this week and is 8.9% higher for the month.

Meanwhile, stocks in Asia and Europe were lower, reflecting Thursday's U.S. losses. Crude oil (-CL) in New York and Brent crude in London were higher even the dollar rose against the euro. Gold (-GC) moved higher as well.

The Dow closed up 67 points to 12,641. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) gained 10 points to 1,335, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) gained 33 points to 2,892. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), heavily influenced by Apple (AAPL), climbed 29 points to 2,586. Apple was up $4.43 to $582.01.

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For once, Europe helped the market.

Late in the day, Italy, France, Spain and Germany agreed to push European leaders at a key summit next week to sign off on a €130 billion ($163 billion) euro plan aimed at increasing growth in Europe's beleaguered economies.

The agreement, which came during a summit in Rome, is a victory for the leaders of Italy, France and Spain, The Wall Street Journal noted. For months, they've been trying to convince Germany, Europe's strongest economy, that the region needs a plan to boost growth and offset the wave of austerity measures countries are taking to fight the debt crisis.

Meanwhile, Research In Motion (RIMM) shares fell 21 cents to $9.86, their first close below $10 since December 2003. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha said the company may miss Street estimates when it reports fiscal-first-quarter​ earnings after Thursday's close.

Markets for the week
			6/22/2012			6/15/2012			% chg.			YTD chg.
Dow Industrials			12,640.78			12,767.17			-0.99%			3.46%
S&P 500			1,335.02			1,342.84			-0.58%			6.16%
Nasdaq			2,892.42			2,872.80			0.68%			11.03%
Russell 2000			775.16			771.32			0.50%			4.62%
Crude oil			$79.76			$84.03			-5.08%			-19.30%
(per barrel)			0.00			0.00			0.00%			0.00%
U.S. Dollar Index			82.44			81.97			0.58%			2.38%
10-yr. Treasury			1.67%			1.59%			5.36%			-10.64%
Gold			$1,566.90			1,628.10			-3.76%			0.01%

Crude oil and gold move higher
Crude oil in New York settled up $1.56 to $79.76 a barrel after falling to $78.20 in New York on Thursday. Brent crude was up $1.77 to $91 a barrel.

The national average price of unleaded gasoline was $3.454, down from Thursday's $3.472, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. For the week, the price is off 2%, and it's down 12.3% from its April high of $3.936 a gallon.

Gold settled up $1.40 to $1,566.90 an ounce. Silver (-SI) was off 17.8 cents to $26.661 an ounce, but copper (-HG) settled up slightly to $3.306 a pound. For the week, gold was down 3.8%, with silver down 7.2% and copper down 2.3%. Gold is even for the year, with copper down 3.8% and silver off 4.5%.

Interest rates were higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 1.672% to 1.618% on Thursday.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Fri			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$79.76			$78.20			-7.82%			-19.30%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$2.5320			$2.5231			-6.33%			-13.12%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.6250			$2.5820			8.38%			-12.18%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.4676			$2.4520			-9.37%			-7.14%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$90.98			$89.23			-10.69%			-15.27%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.4540			$3.4720			-4.59%			5.43%
(per gallon; AAA)

The Dow, S&P end week lower; Nasdaq to end with a gain
The market ended the week, well, mixed. The Dow was off 1% for the week, with gains for JPMorgan Chase, Merck (MRK) and Microsoft (MSFT) offset by losses in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Chevron (CVX). (Microsoft publishes MSN Money.)

The S&P 500 finished with a 0.6% loss. Health care, financial and technology stocks were higher, but energy and utility shares are lower. Airline stocks were among the top-performing groups thanks to lower oil prices.

The Nasdaq and Nasdaq-100 finished up 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. Not bad considering Thursday's smackdown. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) and DirecTV (DTV) were the top Nasdaq-100 performers for the week, up 7.2% and 5.8%, respectively. Nvidia (NVDA), whose chips are key to the success of many tablet devices, was the third-best Nasdaq-100 performer, up 5.7%. The shares were up 16 cents today to $13.

Let us note that Facebook (FB), up $1.21 today to $33.05, gained 10.1% on the week. It is still down 13% from its $38 offering price when it went public in mid-May.

With a week to go, June is holding up as a winner for stocks. The Dow is up 2%, with the S&P 500 up 1.9% and the Nasdaq up 2.3%. The overall strength comes despite the two worst losses of the year: on June 1, when the Dow fell 275 points, and Thursday's dive.

For the year, the Dow is up 3.5%, with the S&P 500 up 6.2% and the Nasdaq up 11%.

The ratings themselves get lousy reviews
The prospect of downgrades had weighed on banks since Moody's said Feb. 15 it was reviewing 17 banks with capital-markets operations because of fragile confidence and tighter regulations that pinched revenue. Pressure mounted as Europe's sovereign-debt crisis intensified. The group didn't peak until the end of March, however.

JPMorgan Chase fell 33% between March 28 and June 1 -- and is up 16% since then. Much of the fall was related to the big trading loss that developed as it tried to hedge against a decline in European financial markets.

The Moody's ratings cuts are "a mea culpa from 2007 and 2008," James Leonard, a credit analyst at Morningstar, told Bloomberg News. "The banks have gotten so much better in the last few years in terms of capital, yet their ratings keep going down. What does that tell you? That the ratings were so wrong before."

Of the fifteen banking companies, the French banks were the best performers today, with Society Generale (SCGLY) up 15 cents to $4.47, BNP Paribas (BNPQY) up 49 cents to $18.55, and Credit Agricole (CRARY) up 8 cents to $2.09.

Leaders and laggards
Darden Restaurants (DRI), operator of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, slid 35 cents to $50.04. Fiscal-fourth-quarte​r revenue trailed analysts’ estimates because of an unexpected decline in sales at the company’s older restaurants.

First Solar (FSLR) jumped $1.34 to $15.88, tops among S&P 500 stocks, The largest maker of thin-film solar panels received permission to continue construction on a $1.36 billion power project in Los Angeles County.

Monster Beverage (MNST) was down $1.13 to $73.61. The distributor of energy drinks and fruit juices will replace Sara Lee (SLE) in the S&P 500.

Ryder System (R), the U.S. truck leasing company, fell $5.31 to $35.44. The company cut its full-year earnings forecast because of lower demand for commercial rentals.

Twenty-six of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by Microsoft, Merck (MRK) and Bank of America. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Kraft Foods (KFT) were the laggards.

Caterpillar (CAT), closely watched because of its exposure to economic forces overseas, was off two cents to $84.96 but fell 2.3% on the week and is off 20% this quarter.

First Solar, Tripadvisor (TRIP) and Southwestern Energy (SWN) were the S&P 500 leaders, with Ryder, Macy's (M) and cruise-line operator Carnival (CCL) the laggards. A total of 384 S&P 500 stocks were higher.

Life Technologies (LIFE) and Vertex were the Nasdaq-100 leaders; 95 stocks in the index were higher. The laggards were Research In Motion and Monster Beverage.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Fri			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0800%			0.070%			14.29%			700.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.751%			0.725%			11.92%			-9.52%
10-year Treasury note			1.672%			1.618%			5.76%			-10.64%
30-year Treasury bond			2.756%			2.688%			3.14%			-4.60%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			82.442			82.488			-0.83%			2.38%
British pound			1.5596			1.5603			1.19%			0.37%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.641			£0.641			-1.17%			-0.37%
Euro in dollars			$1.26			$1.26			1.71%			-2.97%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.795			€ 0.797			-1.68%			3.06%
U.S. $ in yen			80.65			80.22			2.66%			4.60%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.39			6.36			0.10%			0.98%
yuan
Canada dollar			$0.977			$0.973			0.83%			-0.46%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.025			$1.028			-0.83%			0.46%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,566.90			$1,565.50			0.17%			0.01%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.306			$3.298			-1.77%			-3.78%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$26.6610			$26.8390			-3.95%			-4.49%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.7325			$6.6175			4.58%			3.14%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$5.910			$5.865			6.44%			-8.58%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7417			0.7817			3.66%			-19.10%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.5590			1.588			-4.33%			-32.11%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$79.76			$78.20			-7.82%			-19.30%
(per barrel)