(Adds U.S. market open, changes byline, dateline previously
LONDON)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as
earnings from top retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc eased worries
about U.S. consumer spending and energy shares jumped as the
price of crude oil shot to a one-month high above $98 a
barrel.
Stocks climbed to a two-week high in Japan and elsewhere in
Asia but European shares ended little changed as a relatively
reassuring update from Barclays <BARC.L> was offset by a shock
$2.85 billion write-down at Credit Suisse on its asset-backed
investments.
Safe-haven U.S. government bond prices fell as the rising
U.S. equity market indicated an increased tolerance for risk
among investors. But euro-zone government debt rose on the new
wave of bank write-downs in Europe.
Shares of Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> and Chevron Corp <CVX.N>,
whose stock debuted on Tuesday as a component of the Dow Jones
industrial average, gained more than 2 percent. Shares of
Wal-Mart <WMT.N>, the world's largest retailer, rose 1.5
percent.
"You've had a big move in oil over the last few days. We're
almost back to $100 a barrel and that's what drives most things
up," said Stephen Massocca, co-chief executive of San
Francisco-based investment bank Pacific Growth Equities.
"Wal-Mart wasn't a disaster. It was moderately good news."
Shortly before 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average
<> was up 88.49 points, or 0.72 percent, at 12,436.70. The
Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 1.13 points, or 0.08
percent, at 1,349.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was
down 10.74 points, or 0.46 percent, at 2,321.80.
Barclays was the first major UK bank to report results
after a turbulent year, and analysts said Tuesday's numbers --
including a modest $584 million increase in write-downs and a
10 percent dividend increase -- bode well for the sector.
Analysts said other banks would unlikely report further
losses from earlier disclosures, easing investor concerns.
"The fact that (Barclays) felt confident enough to declare
an increase in the dividend really stabilized the situation,"
said Edward Menashy, an economist at Charles Stanley.
Shares of other European banks also gained, with HSBC
<HSBA.L> up 0.4 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>
rising 1.6 percent.
In Japan, stocks climbed to a two-week high as Mitsubishi
UFJ Financial Group <8306.T> and other banks gained, spurred by
a report that Qatar has bought shares in Credit Suisse and
plans to spend as much as $15 billion on European and U.S. bank
stocks over the next year.
The benchmark Nikkei <> hit 13,853, its highest level
since Feb. 5, before paring gains to close 0.9 percent higher
at 13,757.91.
OIL UP ON SUPPLY WORRIES
Oil extended four days of gains, rising to a month-high, on
expectations that supplies will be tight. The market is on edge
over a quarrel between OPEC producer Venezuela and Exxon, the
world's largest non-government-controlled oil company by market
value.
Prices began to rally last week after Venezuela cut exports
to Exxon but stopped short of a wider disruption to the United
States, the world's biggest oil consumer.
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> rose $2.79, or 2.92
percent, to $98.29 per barrel.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is
unlikely to cut output at its March 5 meeting due to rising
prices and uncertainty about Venezuelan and Nigerian supply,
OPEC delegate sources said Tuesday. []
That was after OPEC President Chakib Khelil, Algeria's oil
minister, told Reuters "production is not going to increase. It
will either decrease or be stable." []
The high-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars
climbed as investors added to risky trades amid strong gains in
commodity prices and expectations of further interest rate
increases in Australia.
The Aussie rose to three-month highs versus the greenback
after minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's February
policy meeting cemented expectations for more interest rate
hikes, boosting the currency's appeal to global investors.
The dollar was down against a basket of major
trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY>
down 0.22 percent at 75.925 from a previous session close of
76.095.
(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Ellen
Freilich and Ellis Mnyandu and Rebekah Curtis, Jamie McGeever
and Jane Merriman in London; editing by Leslie Adler)
