Stock Market News for October 25, 2010

Stocks had a mixed day on Friday but they still managed to close another week on a high note, as investors continued to bet that markets’ recent momentum is here to stay. Traders refrained from placing bigger bets as a group of finance ministers met in South Korea amid an ensuing currency war. Traders were hopeful that the officials from twenty major economies would find a solution to manage exchange rates.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 14 points, or 0.1%, to 11,132. The broader S&P 500 index added 2.82 points, or 0.24%, to 1183.08. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index gained nearly 20 points, or 0.8%, to 2479.39. On the week, however, the three indexes managed to close with gains. The Dow and the S&P rose 0.6% while the Nasdaq gained 0.4%.

A two-day meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrial and emerging economies began on Friday. A brewing currency battle, particularly between the U.S. and China, with the former accusing Beijing of unfairly keeping the yuan at artificially low levels, has been keeping sentiments jittery. However, this morning the representatives from the twenty countries agreed to work toward keeping a currency crisis at bay.

A slide in dollar has sent this morning’s stock futures higher. Ahead of the opening bell, the Dow futures were up 0.6% to 11,155 while Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 0.7% higher at 1,189.  

This week's calendar shows 177 of the S&P500 set to report, with seven DJIA firms slated, including Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG - Analyst Report), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Analyst Report), Chevron (NYSE:CVX - Analyst Report), 3M (NYSE:MMM - Analyst Report), DuPont (NYSE:DD - Analyst Report) ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM - Analyst Report) and Merck (NYSE:MRK - Analyst Report).

Asian markets had a mixed day today, with the Nikkei 225-stock average closing off 0.3% as a higher yen weakened shares of exporters; the Shanghai Composite meanwhile climbed to a 6-month high with its 2.6% rally.

A falling dollar has sent copper prices off $7.90 at $387.60 per ton; gold prices are trading up $19.30 at $1,344.40 per ounce and crude is trading $0.68 higher at $82.37 a barrel.

While investors respond to the dollar's weakness, they would stay tuned to this morning's remark from Fed Chairman Bernanke as he addresses "Mortgages and the Future of Housing Finance."

Read the full analyst report on PG

Read the full analyst report on MSFT

Read the full analyst report on CVX

Read the full analyst report on MMM

Read the full analyst report on FF

Read the full analyst report on XOM

Read the full analyst report on MRK