US stocks open higher as Greece moves closer to a debt deal

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) – USA stocks closed broadly higher on Friday, with major indexes ending up more than 1 percent on hopes Greece would be able to secure fresh funding at an upcoming meeting, which would allow it to avert bankruptcy and remain in the euro zone.

Canadian stocks fell as a rout in Chinese equities raised concern that growth will slow in the world’s second-largest economy. The Greek deal “is not done, but we’re closer than we have been in a while”.

For 2015, the Dow has lost 308 points, or 1.7 percent, while the S&P 500 has shed 12 points, or 0.6 percent, as of the close of trading Wednesday.

In late afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.48 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.36 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.38 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1 percent.

MARKET RESPONSE: Stock in the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange continued to trade.

But as with Greece, the view of China improved by the week’s end after rescue measures undertaken by the Chinese government sparked a strong rally in Shanghai.

Airline stocks rallied on news that American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, signaled it is cutting back on its growth plans this year amid signs that average fares are declining. Gold fell $4.30 to $1,159.20 an ounce and copper rose 5.4 cents to $2.56 a pound.

Considerable strength was also visible among pharmaceutical stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.

Royal Bank of Canada jumped 1.5 percent and Toronto- Dominion Bank rose 1.1 percent as financial-services stocks increased 1.2 percent as a group.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to appear before congressional panels for a pair of semi-annual hearings on Capitol Hill. “If Greece exiting the eurozone has a bigger effect in a global recession, then that would weigh on the Fed’s decision to lift rates”.

Next week’s calendar includes reports from General Electric, Delta Air Lines and JPMorgan Chase and other giant banks. Profit at S&P 500 companies contracted 6.5 percent in the second quarter, analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. While that would be the first contraction in earnings in nearly six years, the figures are distorted by a big drop in energy company earnings following the collapse in the oil price last year. On Friday, they dumped bonds in favor of riskier assets such as stocks, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 2.415%, near its highs for the year. Horizon fell 55 cents, or 2 percent, to $33.95, while Depomed soared $7.50, or 36 percent, to $28.14. This is no guarantee of a happy ending, and we suspect it will still require a more meaningful easing by the PBOC for one to occur, but it is an important divergence to be aware of when reading the increasingly charged commentary that surrounds this sell off. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments — either by the same reader or different readers.

The trading halt at the NYSE came on the same day United Continental had to temporarily ground its flights across the country because of computer problems. A few things we won’t tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING.

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