Stocks Are Still Up (Weekly Financial Review (Oct. 21, 2011).

It was a sea of green on Wall Street and in Europe as markets recorded another week of gains. As Friday came to a close, U.S. stocks were at their highest levels in two and a half months. All three indexes are in the plus for the year. For the entire week, the S&P and the Dow were up about 1%, the Nasdaq was down about 1%.

However, as we’ve seen in the past, the gains are only as good as the next piece of news to come out of Europe. More concrete plans for Europe’s debt resolution are expected on Wednesday, October 26, when the EU Council will hold another meeting. Data on new home sales in the U.S. will also be released on Wednesday.

Financial sector stocks, including Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Capital One and JPMorgan Chase, added gains for the week. Bank of America shares ended down very slightly at $6.46 per share.

In Europe, the DAX was the biggest winner, closing up 3.6 percent on Friday. France’s CAC 40 rose 2.8%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 1.9%

The U.S. dollar fell against the euro, yen and the pound.

The major Asian markets did not fair as well, with only Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Taiwan’s TSEC 50 ending up for the week. Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.8% for the week, making it one of the only markets that did not post significant gains. The Shanghai Composite also declined, by about 0.6% on Friday alone. It seems that Asian investors are playing it safe while waiting for more news on the European debt resolution. The Mumbai Sensex also dropped -151.25 points, or -0.89% to 16,785.6. The Hang Seng posted a modest 0.24% gain on Friday, to end at 18,025.72. Taiwan’s TSEC 50 gained +0.14% to end at 7,254.51.

December contract oil closed at $87.40, up 1.6%.

Gold for December delivery rose 1.4% to $1,636.10 per troy ounce. Silver rose slightly to $31.46 per troy ounce.

Consumer confidence readings for the U.S., Germany and Italy are due on Tuesday. UK consumer consumer confidence readings are due on Friday. Also on Friday, Japanese inflation and industrial production figures will be released. Thursday will be a big day for U.S. data, when third quarter GDP and U.S. unemployment claims figures are announced.