Oracle's positive earnings energized a stock-market rally Friday, ending a strong week on Wall Street driven by the first interest-rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) in more than four years. Stocks rallied Tuesday and Wednesday after the Fed cut a key short-term interest rate, reassuring investors worried that the mortgage and credit-market turmoil would send the U.S. economy into recession. The advance stalled Thursday on weak banking-sector earnings, a plunging U.S. dollar, record-high oil prices, and a congressional hearing about the “sub-prime” mortgage crisis. After the one-day retreat, investors seemed willing to restart the advance on Friday, due partly to strong corporate earnings. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell 16 cents to $81.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The October contract settled on Thursday at $83.32, ending at a record high for the fourth consecutive session. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.49, or 0.4 percent, to 13,820.19. Twenty-five of the index's 30 components were higher, including Verizon Communications, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Walt Disney. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.00, or 0.5 percent, to 1,525.75. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 16.93, or 0.6 percent, to 2,671.22. Oracle reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue that surpassed estimates late Thursday. The business-software leader also reported a large jump in sales of new software licenses. The company's shares jumped nearly 5 percent Friday and topped the Nasdaq's most-actives list. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 45.36 to 9,981.83. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 20.79 to 2,382.02. And the Russell 2000 index rose 3.35 to 813.11.
