Wall Street followed the lead of European markets and gained ground for the third straight day today, pushing U.S. retail stocks up 1.3 percent.
The S&P Retail Index rose 6.17 points to 495.81 as the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.3 percent, or 143.95 points, to 11,320.71 following a late-day rally. Gold prices plummeted as stocks rose, pushing the precious metal down more than $100 to about $1,758 an ounce.
Among the retail stocks gaining ground were Macy’s Inc., ahead 3.6 percent, and Coach Inc., up 2.6 percent.
European investors appear to be holding on to hopes that Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hint at measures to boost the U.S. economy in a speech on Friday. It is not clear, however, if that is in the offing.
The FTSE 100 in London was up 1.3 percent, while the CAC 40 in Paris gained 1.8 percent, the FTSE MIB in Milan rose 1.9 percent and the DAX in Frankfurt finished up 2.7 percent. Among those shares that helped lift the FTSE 100 were hedge fund manager Man Group, Tullow Oil and advertising group WPP.
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Fashion and luxury stocks generally had a good day — PPR was up 3 percent, Ferragamo rose 7.6 percent, Richemont finished up 2.5 percent and ASOS rose 2.2 percent. But a few finished down — L’Oréal fell 1.7 percent, while French Connection fell 2.3 percent and Esprit Holdings declined 1 percent.
Asian markets lost ground for the day, with the Nikkei down 1.1 percent in Tokyo and the Hang Seng Index off 2.1 percent in Hong Kong.