The NASDAQ records its best week in 9 months

A strong week didn’t close as well as it started with just a small gain on Friday. There were some companies that made big moves though. Google surged on the reporting of strong results, which helped NASDAQ reach a record high.

The week ended quietly though. The markets from around the world rallied once Greece & its creditors agreed to the framework of a new loan program. Strong quarterly earnings from a number of big companies like JPMorgan Chase & Citigroup also added to this increase.

The sky appears to be clearing as per senior equity strategist, Linda Duessel from Federated Investors.

Earlier, the concerns over the plunging Chinese market & the prospects of Greece leaving the EU were bogging everything down.

The S&P 500’s index went up by 2.35 points and closed at 2126.64. The index finished off the week with an overall gain of 2.4%, its best performance over the last 4 months.

The NASDAQ also rose by 46.96 points to 5210.14 and closed out its best week in 9 months. The Dow Jones lost 33.80 points to close at 18086.45.

Google’s stock jumped when profit & sales were reported that were better than predicted. This ended 6 consecutive quarters where their earnings were short of predictions. Google rose by 16% to close at $ 699.62.

The deal struck by Greece cleared one more hurdle this Friday when it was backed by German lawmakers. The EU even said that Athens would get sufficient money to continue making debt payments.

Major markets in Europe had a mixed closing though they did rally earlier in the week. The DAX lost 0.4% while the CAC went up by 0.1%. The FTSE100 fell by 0.3%.

In the US, Comerica reported a fall in quarterly earning which was partially because of them setting more money aside for covering losses on oil company loans. This news drove their stocks down by 6.3% to $ 47.28.

In other news, bond prices hardly changed, precious & industrial metals sank and U.S. crude fell by a couple of cents as well.