Reuters Enlarge Image Washington, D.C., residents protest city cutbacks outside the U.S. Capitol. NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, adding to Wall Street's largest single-day percentage gain since early January, after further signals of progress in Washington's fiscal standoff, with the Associated Press reporting that House Republicans were proposing a deal that would avert default and end the 11-day-old government shutdown.
"I think until we have some kind of deal out of Washington, that's going to drive trading in the near term," said Nick Raich, CEO at the Earnings Scout. "And I do believe that is not just if, but when," said Raich, expressing confidence that it's only a matter of time for an accord to be reached.
"Once people take their eyes off Washington, it would be nice to get a tell. The key to whether markets go higher or not is not the fact that fourth-quarter numbers are coming down, but by how much," said Raich of fourth-quarter corporate guidance.
Click to PlayThe new WSJ/NBC News poll finds the Republican party more to blame for the shutdown. Photo: Getty Images
The AP cited officials speaking on condition of anonymity in reporting senior aides to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor detailed the plan at a late-night White House meeting on Thursday with senior administration officials.
President Barack Obama has said he wants to see the government reopened as quickly as possible without Republicans demanding any conditions for doing so. The government has been partially closed for 11 days as Republicans looked to defund the Affordable Care Act, or health-care legislation passed into law in 2010.
A day after its largest point jump since December 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced as much as 110 points, and was lately up 94.95 points, or 0.6%, to 15,221.02, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (SPX) gained 9.27 points, or 0.6%, to 1,701.83.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) climbed 28.97 points, or 0.8%, to 3,789.72.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 were on track for their first weekly gain in three, while the Nasdaq Composite was in position for its seventh straight weekly gain.
For every stock falling, more than two rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 261 million shares had traded as of 12:40 p.m. Eastern. Composite volume surpassed 1.4 billion.
• Government shutdown: Track the latest news out of Washington »/conga/story/2013/10/governmentshutdownstream.html 282136
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) reported a quarterly loss, its first under Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) reported a 13% increase in third-quarter profit, even as its mortgage banking income declined steeply.
Oil prices (CLX3) fell 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $102.05 a barrel after the International Energy Agency upgraded its oil-demand-growth forecast, but also warned of big risks posed by economic fallout from the U.S. political impasse.
After a brief trading halt on the Comex Friday morning, gold futures for December delivery (GCZ3) lost $28.70, or 2.2%, to $1,268.20 an ounce, off 3.2% for the week and settling at a three-month low.
The 10-year Treasury yield (10_YEAR) hed steady at 2.682% and the dollar (DXY) was slightly higher against other major currencies.
Investors paid little heed to a gauge of consumer sentiment falling to an initial October reading of 75.2 from a final September reading of 77.5, according to media reports relaying the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer-sentiment index.
"The fact that people are becoming less confident given what is going on in Washington, that's not a shock," said Raich. Still, consumer discretionary is the only one of 10 sectors to outperform the S&P 500 in the past 4½ years, or since the financial crisis began, Raich noted.
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On Thursday, the Dow industrials (DJIA) rallied more than 300 points, and the S&P 500 (SPX) tallied its best gain since Jan. 2, after House Republican leaders proposed temporarily raising the nation's debt ceiling.
"The much-needed political breakthrough appears intact, although investors are now awaiting a nod from the president on the strings attached to the offer from Republicans to extend the debt limit by six more weeks," emailed Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. LLC.
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