US markets ended higher Friday as trade calmed at the end of one of the most turbulent weeks on record.
Adding to Thursday's 423-point rebound, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 125.71 points (1.13 percent) to 11,269.02.
The broader S&P 500 was up 6.17 points (0.53 percent) at 1,178.81, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 15.30 points (0.61 percent) to 2,507.98.
The markets stayed in positive territory all day after a week characterized by sudden 400-point swings and daily losses and gains of some five percent.
"Some of the fears that we had in the early part of the week have subsided to some extent, but we are certainly not out of the woods," said Michael James of Wedbush Securities.
"The only thing that you can be certain of is that significant volatility is going to continue in the near term."
The Dow's blue chips were led by a 4.9 percent gain by Boeing and 4.1 percent from Hewlett-Packard.
JPMorgan Chase lost 2.13 percent.
On the Nasdaq, Yahoo was a big gainer, adding 5.6 percent after seeing its shares pummeled over the past week.
Shares got a boost from positive data showing a 0.5 percent rise in US consumer spending in July over June, which suggested that fears of the economy turning toward recession might be overblown.
Also helping was the strong close in European markets, as the week's newest frights over debt problems eased and authorities in four countries declared temporary bans on short-selling bank shares.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.24 percent from 2.33 percent late Thursday, while that on the 30-year Treasury eased to 3.70 percent from 3.78 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
ACROSS EUROPE
London's FTSE index stood out as a gainer, adding 1.39 percent, but the other markets tumbled: the CAC 40 lost 2.0 percent for the week, and the DAX, 3.8 percent.
In Asia the Nikkei tumbled 3.6 percent for the week, while the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong gave up 4.3 percent.
The first spark to a huge selloff on Monday was Standard & Poor's controversial, historic downgrade of the US credit rating. That sent US stocks on their second plunge in three days -- after one the previous Thursday -- with an impact that was echoed around the world.
Markets thrashed around on Tuesday as new worries surfaced in Europe over the debt crisis possibly enveloping Italy and Spain, but mostly recovered their losses for the day on assurances from the European Central Bank, and the US Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates ultra-low for two more years because of sagging economic growth.
But the Fed move bared the touchiness of the markets -- the Dow first rose, then plunged, and then rocketed back up on the rate news.
Wednesday more rumors in Europe, including that France might be downgraded in the wake of the United States, sent markets tumbling again; bank stocks were a focus of selloffs in both Europe and the US.
Thursday, the markets shot up again, as European authorities strained to calm the rumor mill while American traders turned their focus back to individual stocks and their valuations.
Finally on Friday, the markets held onto and added to the gains of the day before, helped by a ban of short sales of bank stocks in four European countries and reasonably positive data on consumer spending in the United States.
The turbulence sent investors and businesses fleeing to safe-havens, and gold pushed to a record high Thursday at $1,814.95, before dropping off to around $1,746 late Friday.
Investors also sought out the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, prompting interventions by Japan's and Switzerland's central banks to prevent further rises.
And despite the US downgrade, traders fled into US Treasury bonds, sending yields at one point Wednesday to historic lows. By the end of the week, the US benchmarket bonds were still hovering near their lowest yields ever.
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