U.S. stock markets close in positive territory

Germany News.Net
Wednesday 27th August, 2008

U.S. equity markets had a rare up day Wednesday with all indices finishing in the black.

Traders were comforted by remarks from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart. Speaking after making a speech at an economics conference at Georgia State University, Lockhart said he was comfortable with current monetary policy, and that he saw inflation moderating, mainly due to the slide in oil prices. The central banker however sounded a note of caution about the nation's banks.

"The banking system is experiencing a lot of strain and some banks are in very difficult circumstances. We continue to monitor banks in this particular part of the country and a number of them are facing liquidity strains and asset quality strains," he said.

At the close of trading the Dow Jones Industrials were ahead 89.64 points or 0.79% at 11,502.51.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 20.49 points or 0.87% to 2,382.46.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was up 10.15 points or 0.80% at 1,281.66.

On forex markets the U.S. dollar gained. Around the New York close the euro was quoted at 1.4722. The British pound fell sharply to 1.8349, while the Swiss franc weakened to 1.0968.

The Japanese yen was lower at 109.58. The Australian dollar fell to .8582. The Canadian dollar was changing hands at 1.0469.

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