BRIEFING.COM Stocks concluded the week's final session on a strong note, thanks to sinking oil prices. The major indices each advanced more than 2% to close near their session highs. In turn, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 finished the week up by 3.6%, 4.5%, and 2.9%, respectively.
Friday's plus-4% drop in oil prices induced buying in stocks. Oil finished the week more than 8% lower, though is still up 20% year-to-date.
Helping trim oil prices was strength in the U.S. dollar. The greenback found favor after cautions that the European economy would weaken, most likely an adverse effect of tighter credit and higher input costs. The dollar index advanced 1.8%.
Fixed income investors bid up the price of bonds as a stronger dollar, lower oil prices, and encouraging unit labor cost data helped ease inflationary expectations. According to government data, unit labor costs were up just 1.3% during the second quarter, which is down from the pace in the previous two quarters.
