Bolstered by technology shares for the second day in a row, stocks posted gains in morning trading, with markets poised to end the week higher amid positive corporate announcements freshly optimistic economic growth forecasts.
All three primary indices mirrored gains in overseas markets both European and Asian that appeared to sidestep nuclear worries in Japan and anxiety over debt across the EU. The potential bailout for Portugal also failed to faze investors in Friday morning trading. On the whole, the upward climb defies the recent jitters brought on by crude oil supply concerns that have been pushing up the price of commodities.
The United States commerce report has likely had a hand in keeping trading high Friday with the announcement that the United States economy grew at a more rapid pace in the fourth quarter of 2010 than originally forecast. Fourth quarter growth was previously estimated at 2.8 percent only but most recent analyses understand it to have been 3.1 percent.
Analysts pay close attention to GDP numbers in their attempts to fully understand the U.S. economy and digest how the recent crises and Japan and possible supply demands brought on by the turmoil in the Middle East have the potential to affect it.
At midday the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.61 percent while the Nasdaq composite index was up 0.90 percent and the Standard & Poor’s index moved higher by 0.63 percent. The Dow has returned to its level before the earthquake and nuclear crisis hit Japan.
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