Wall Street Monday rebounded from a three-day losing streak as investors were optimistic about the merger and acquisition market after Xerox agreed to buy business services provider Affiliated Computer Services in a US$6.4 billion deal. Analysts' upgrades also boosted Cisco, Citigroup and other firms in both the technology and financial sectors.
Wall Street closed mixed on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave the near-zero interest rate unchanged, but may begin scaling back some economic stimulus. Traders moved into technology and health care shares amid concerns the energy, materials and financials were overbought.
Wall Street Friday climbed to a fresh 2009 high as analysts boosted their growth outlook for the US. The market was inspired after Barclay's Capital raised its forecast for the nation's GDP growth in first three months of next year to five per cent from three per cent. For the week, Dow index posted a gain of 215 points.
Overnight Wall Street posed a solid gain as an upbeat sentiment that the worst is over increased investors' appetite for riskier assets. The shares were lifted by a round of buying in financial shares and a jump in US industrial production data.
Wall Street closed modestly higher on Tuesday after positive US economic data. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke also said the "recession is very likely over at this point". US retail sales were surprisingly strong in August largely due to government's "cash for clunkers" program, but analysts warned that it may not represent a sustainable recovery in consumer spending.
A group of junior miners in Pilbara region have formed an alliance to develop an independent iron ore export terminal at Australia's Port Hedland, while the big miners have dominated their own infrastructure projects.
Wall Street was higher on Friday as a government report showed that the pace of job losses slowed in August. But the US stocks were still in negative territory for the week with the worst performance since early July.
