Markets Continue to Show Signs of Improvement By Korollos Shalaby The S&P 500 closed Friday above 1,500 points

on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in more than five years. This was underpinned by strong quarterly earnings reports that helped it rally to yearly highs. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 70.65 points, or 0.51%, to end at 13,895.98 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 8.14 points, or 0.54% to 1502.96 units. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 19.33 points, or 0.62% and ended at 3149.71 units. For the week the Dow rose 1.8% and the S & P and the Nasdaq gained 1.1 and 0.5% respectively. It was the fourth consecutive week weekly earnings for the three indicators. The winning streak is the longest in eight years and left the S & P 500 to about 4.1% of its record high close to 1565.15 points, reached on Oct. 9, 2007. The strong start to the year in the stock market has been attributed to strong corporate results, the agreement reached in Washington to extend the government's borrowing ability, encouraging signals from the global economy and the flow of funds into shares. Shares of Procter & Gamble led the Dow and the S & P was up 4 percent, to $ 73.25, after the world's largest maker of household products, posted quarterly profit that beat estimates and raised previous its sales and earnings forecasts for the fiscal year. The S & P 500 closed at its highest level since December 10, 2007 and the Dow finished at its peak from October 31, 2007. Apple shares lost 2.4%, to 439.88 dollars, and iPhone maker ceded the title of the most valuable U.S. company by market capitalization at the hands of Exxon Mobil Corp. The market capitalization of Apple fell to 431.000 million, almost 250,000 million less than the maximum recorded in September. The decrease in the value of Apple is almost equal to the total value of Google Inc. U.S. crude futures ended lower Friday in a volatile session due to profit-taking, but closed up weekly. Oil fell $ 0.7, or 0.07%, to close at 95.88 dollars a barrel, after trading between 95.43 to 96.56 dollars a barrel.mFor the week, futures gained 32 cents, or 0.3%. European stocks hit new highs Friday several months, German economic data boosted by better than expected and a higher rate in the cancellation of loans to banks during the financial crisis reinforced the idea that the region is on track for strong recovery. The DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange led the rise, reaching five-year highs and closed with a rise of 1.3% after the Ifo business sentiment index beat estimates.

Confidence in the euro zone recovery was further reinforced by news that banks pay next week 137.000 million (183.000 million) on loans granted by the European Central Bank during the financial crisis, about third more than expected. The Eurostoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares closed up 0.78%, to 2744.18 points. The FTSEurofirst 300 closed up 0.32%, to 1174.81 points. The Eurostoxx 50, which has risen 4.1% so far in January, is on track to close its eighth month with gains, extending its longest winning streak since 1998, but still 67% below their 2007 highs. In another sign of increased appetite for risky assets, the implied volatility in the index of leading eurozone shares fell to new lows of six months.

Korollos Shalaby is a nationally acknowledged mortgage expert with over 6 years experience as a loss mitigation expert and mortgage finance consultant. He has owned several companies and has been at the forefront of all lending and banking practices since 2006.

Tags: S&P, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq