Hello traders!

A real roller-coaster ride saw the Dow Jones rise 93.09 to 12,224.97 when last I checked. Blue chips hit a trading high of 12,228.01, putting them on track to finish above the closing high of 12,176.54 reached Wednesday.

Broader stock indicators also climbed. The S&P500 rose 9.41 to 1,393.83. It hit an trading high of 1,394.49; this is the first time the S&P 500 has surpassed 1,394 since November 2000.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 3.46 to 2,409.84.

See you in the morning with updates....

G.

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng was recently trading up 112.26 points at 18,990.68, while the Nikkei was down 14.5 points at 16,275.05.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, was 17 cents higher at $58.45 a barrel from its close of $58.28 in New York overnight.

Early broker notes:
VODAFONE UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'HOLD' AT DEUTSCHE BANK
KINGFISHER CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'BUY' AT MERRILL LYNCH
LADBROKES, WILLIAM HILL STARTED 'BUY' AT DRESDNER KLEINWORT

Happy trading!

G.

End-of-day Market Roundup