U.S. stocks end day, week, month on positive note

Central Asia News.Net
Friday 31st October, 2008

Wall Street ended higher Friday, putting an end to the worst month for U.S. stocks in more than ten years.

At the close of trading Friday the Dow Jones Industrials were up 144.32 points or 1.57% at 9,325.01.

The Nasdaq Composite was ahead 22.43 points or 1.32% at 1,720.95.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was up 14.66 points or .54% at 968.75.

The gains came despite a government report that showed U.S. consumer spending dropped in September by the largest amount in about four years.

On the positive side oil prices also fell. American Express, which announced it was cutting 7,000 jobs, led the risers.

The U.S. dollar was mixed. Against the euro it fell to 1.2743 around the New York close. Versus the British pound it was significantly higher at 1.6084.

The Australian dollar was a touch lower at .6650, while the Canadian dollar rose to 1.2089. The Swiss franc weakened to 1.1599 while the Japanese yen was little changed at 98.52.

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