Friday, Sept. 16, 2011 5:24 PM – Stocks Up 5 Days in a Row

Its nice to have stocks moving in the right direction as the market went 5 for 5 this week. For the week the S&P 500 gained nearly 6% while gold lost 1%. Most European stocks were up in line with the US market but Germany gained nearly 10%. Asia was up only slightly.

Bonds lost about 0.7% though it matters a lot what kind of bond. Treasuries lost the most, followed by high quality corporates, munis were flat and high yield bonds gained 2%.

On the European front, the news changes every few hours. This PM, CNBC reported that the IMF will not make its scheduled payment to Greece though that could change. Part of the problem is that 90% of the banks needed to agree to getting less than the value of their bonds and only 75% have agreed to do so. There will be a lot of news in the next few days and the markets will accordingly.

Have a great weekend!