Investors get Christmas U.S. stock surge

New York -- Investors were getting pieces of candy not lumps of coal in their holiday stockings as U.S. stock indexes surged in midday trading Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 159.73 points, or 1.21 percent, to 13,405.37 in early afternoon trading. The Nasdaq composite index showed a 34.07-point gain, or 1.29 percent, to 2,674.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.18 percent, 17.20 points, to 1,477.32.

"You have a good, old-fashioned Christmas rally, sparked by good tech-sector earnings," Jim Awad, chairman of W.P. Stewart Asset Management, told The Wall Street Journal. "The question becomes whether we give it all back in January on more write-offs."

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,333 stocks advanced and 708 declined.

The 10-year Treasury note yielded 4.108 percent early afternoon Friday.

The dollar was weaker against the euro but higher against the yen. The euro traded at $1.4366 from $1.4323 Thursday. The dollar traded at 113.92 yen from 113.07 yen Thursday.

In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 1.3 percent to 6,429.9.

The Nikkei 225 closed up 1.5 percent at 15,205 in Tokyo.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.