MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Latinamerican markets react positively to Bernanke's comments

Most of Latin American markets posted strong gains on Friday

Latinamerican markets reacted positively on Friday to comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. In Brazil, the benchmark Bovespa stocks index rose 3.41% in intraday trading, tracking strong gains on Wall Street.

Other Latin American markets also posted strong gains. Mexico's IPC index gained 1.8% and Chile's IPSA index rose 1.48%. In Argentina, the Merval index gained 1.05%. Latin American markets "are rebounding today on positive news from the U.S. authorities regarding a rescue package for homeowners, Fed's willingness to protect the economy, and better-than-expected results on consumption and income in the U.S.," said Alfredo Coutino, senior economist at Moody's Economy.com, in a research note. In a speech at the central bank's yearly conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Bernanke declared the Fed ready to act as needed to prevent harm to the U.S. economy. In this context the Dow Jones industrial average was up 119.01 points, or 0.90%, at 13,357.74. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index was up 16.35 points, or 1.12%, at 1,473.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 31.06 points, or 1.21%, at 2,596.36. While the S&P and Dow fell for the week, all three indexes posted their first monthly gains since May. The Dow rose 1.1%, the S&P climbed 1.3%, while the Nasdaq surged 2% in August. Financial shares, which have borne the brunt of worries about deteriorating credit conditions, rose. JPMorgan Chase was up 1.3% at $44.52, while Citigroup climbed to $46.88. But trading was thin on the NYSE, with many traders and investors already on the road ahead of a long holiday weekend. Markets in the United States will be closed on Monday for Labor Day. About 1.39 billion shares changed hands, far short of last year's estimated daily average of 1.84 billion, while on Nasdaq about 1.55 billion shares traded, also well below last year's daily average of 2.02 billion. Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones by a ratio of about 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. In Asia stock exchanges also closed in positive ground and in Europe Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 1.47%; Germany's DAX 1.57% and France's CAC 40, 1.45%.