The Dow Gets a Shot of Ouzo
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) capped off a strong week today gaining nearly 1%, or 115 points, to give it almost 2% increase for the week. The gain was puzzling, though, as there was little news outside negative economic reports that came out this morning. May industrial production output was down 0.1% from April, and the Michigan Consumer Sentiment figure was also lower than expected.
The market seemed to be optimistic that the Greek election on Sunday could lead to more stimulus. The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, said, "The eurosystem will continue to supply liquidity to solvent banks where needed," and markets in France and Germany climbed more than 1.4% on Draghi's statement.
Turning to individual stocks, Bank of America (NYS: BAC) led the way, gaining more than 3% on the hopes of financial stimulus. Fellow financial component American Express also moved up more than 2%. Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) jumped 2.3% on news that it will acquire the business social-networking site Yammer for $1.2 billion. The site is designed for business collaboration and could be a natural fit with Microsoft's Office suite.
Fellow tech stocks Facebook (NAS: FB) and Zynga (NAS: ZNGA) also shot up by 6% and 11%, respectively. A Goldman Sachs analyst gave the social gamer a buy rating and a price target of $13, saying that bookings numbers look better than expected, causing the stock to spike in afternoon trading. The news seemed to help boost Facebook shares as well, as the two company's businesses are closely tied, but Facebook's CTO announced after hours that he will be leaving the company later this summer. The departure marks the first senior-level exit since its IPO, as CTO Bret Taylor said he will be leaving to start his own company.
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