U.S. markets soar to close week

New York -- Major U.S. stock indexes jumped more than 2 percent Friday afternoon as oil prices dropped more than $5 to $115 per barrel in New York.

Dropping oil prices -- more than 20 percent below their July peak -- helped offset a second-quarter report from the Federal National Mortgage Association that said the government-sponsored mortgage broker lost $2.3 billion in the second quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average soared, up 302.89 points at the close, to 11,734.32, up 2.65 percent. The Nasdaq composite index rose 58.37 points, or 2.48 percent, to 2,414.10. The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 2.39 percent to 1,296.32, up 30.25 points.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,370 stocks advanced and 776 declined on a volume of 1.243 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 2/32 to yield 3.935 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5018 against Thursday's close of $1.5323, while the dollar traded at 110.19 yen from Thursday's 109.43 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average gained 43.42 points to 13,168.41, up 0.33 percent.

The FTSE 100 index in London rose 11.70 points to 5,489.20, up 0.21 percent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.