Currency traders watch their computer monitors near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2021. Shares were higher across Asia on Friday after a strong gains on Wall Street driven by hopes for a powerful recovery from the pandemic.
Currency traders talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2021. Shares were higher across Asia on Friday after a strong gains on Wall Street driven by hopes for a powerful recovery from the pandemic.
Currency traders watch their computer monitors near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2021. Shares were higher across Asia on Friday after a strong gains on Wall Street driven by hopes for a powerful recovery from the pandemic.
A currency trader stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center, and the foreign exchange rates at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2021. Shares were higher across Asia on Friday after a strong gains on Wall Street driven by hopes for a powerful recovery from the pandemic.
FILE – In this Nov. 23, 2020 file photo, the New York Stock Exchange is seen in New York. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street at the end of an up-and-down week, led by gains in banks and energy companies. The index was up 0.5% early Friday, March 26, 2021.
Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Friday with technology companies and banks leading the way higher.
The broad gains, if they hold, could help the major indexes avoid a second weekly loss. The market has been churning because of a tug-of-war between hopes for economic growth and concerns about rising inflation stunting that growth.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.4% as of 11:18 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 124 points, or 0.4%, to 32,742 and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.
Technology stocks were the biggest gainers in the early going. The sector, which drove gains throughout pandemic, has been choppy recently because investors have been shifting money into stocks that are poised to benefit more from a growing economy. Cisco Systems rose 1.4% and Texas Instruments rose 2.1%.
Banks made strong gains after the Federal Reserve said it would lift limits on the dividends banks can pay and the share buybacks they can make. The sector is also getting a boost as bond yields rise again after a brief pause. Citigroup rose 1% and Bank of America rose 1.5%.
Higher bond yields allow banks to charge more lucrative interest on all kinds of loans and are also a signal that the economy is moving along with its recovery.
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