(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stocks surged Friday but pared early morning gains sparked after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the ECB will do what it must to lift inflation while China's central bank announced a surprise interest rate cut.
In late afternoon trade in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 73 points at 17794 while the Nasdaq added 8 points to 4710 and the S&P 500 climbed 8 points to 2061. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 finished at record levels on Thursday.
Draghi gave stocks around the globe a boost today after announcing that the ECB is ready to expand its asset purchase programs and that it would step up the pressure if its policy "is not effective enough". Annual eurozone inflation was 0.4% in October far below the central bank's target of just below 2%.
On top of this investors were also upbeat after China cut its benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years to fight back against a slowing economy. The People's Bank of China lowered its one-year benchmark lending rates by 40 basis points to 5.6% and reduced the one-year deposit rate by 25 bps to 2.75%.
European markets closed sharply higher today led by shares in France while Asian markets also rallied.
There were no government economic reports in the US today and very few corporate earnings on the agenda as well. Retailers were in focus again as Ann () shares shed even after announcing profit and sales ahead of expectations as same store sales fell 4.3% due to weak traffic.
() reversed earlier gains after its third quarter profit and sales topped views and as same store sales climbed 6.9% during the period.
Gap () fell over 4% after it reported earnings that beat expectations last night and revenue that missed views. Same store sales matched estimates but the owner of Gap Old Navy and Banana Republic cut its earnings outlook for the year.
() jumped more than 7% after releasing earnings revenue and same store sales that beat expectations late Thursday.
() missed estimates with both earnings and revenue with results hurt by the delayed release of the "Assassin's Creed: Unity" video game. Shares tanked over 13% on Friday.
In other stock news Hertz () announced that airline industry veteran John Tague will become the company's new CEO. Tague is said to have the support of Carl Icahn who removed the car rental company's previous CEO.
Sotheby's () longtime CEO William Ruprecht is stepping down as activist investors including Daniel Loeb have been demanding changes at the company for around a year.
() and () have extended negotiations to reach a new contract agreement avoiding a blackout of shows for customers of the satellite TV provider for a temporary period.
SolarCity () and SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE) both rose around 2% after agreeing to partner with Wal-Mart () to install up to 400 solar projects at the retailer's facilities across the US over the next four years.
Valeant Pharamceuticals (NYSE:VRX) has cut its stake in botox maker () to 0.1% from 9.7% three days after Actavis (NYSE:ACT) trumped its offer for the company.
December gold settled at $1197 an ounce up 0.6% for day after the central bank news from China.
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