Wall St. rises on Nike, lower dollar; snaps three-week string of losses

The dollar was up yesterday which caused everything to crash, but back down again today so the Dow zoomed another 168 points as investors once again took stock and decided it liked what the Fed had to say on Wednesday, signaling a less aggressive approach to interest rate hikes than had been feared.  With interest being held near zero, the Fed has basically made even an unstable stock market look far more attractive than  treasury bills and bonds and so stocks are expected to continue their longtime ascent.  In even better news the biotech sector got a big boost from a company called Biogen for a very promising new Alzheimer's drug, the S&P broke a three week losing streak and the Nasdaq hit a 15 year high.  Volume was very robust at 9.2 billion shares.

Wall St. rises on Nike, lower dollar; snaps three-week string of losses

BY CAROLINE VALETKEVITCH

DJ:     18,127.65  +168.62     NAS:      5,026.42  +34.04        S&P:      2,108.10  +18.83

Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:35pm EDT

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday, pushing the Nasdaq to a 15-year high and helping the S&P 500 snap a three-week string of losses, following a pullback in the dollar, upbeat results from Nike and further biotech gains.

Recent sharp gains in the U.S. dollar .DXY have increased worries about the currency's impact on the earnings of U.S. multinationals. S&P 500 earnings projections for the first quarter and for 2015 have fallen sharply since Jan. 1.

Among early reporters, Nike (NKE.N) jumped 3.7 percent to $101.98 as the biggest boost to the Dow after it posted a quarterly profit that beat market estimates. The world's largest sportswear maker sold more higher-margin shoes and apparel but warned that the stronger dollar would take a toll on its current quarter.

The Nasdaq biotech index .NBI rose for an eighth straight session, gaining 7.4 percent since March 10. It climbed 0.5 percent on Friday, powered by a 9.8 percent climb in Biogen Idec (BIIB.O) to $475.98. volume was high. About 9.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.6 billion average for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.

The company said its experimental drug became the first Alzheimer's treatment to significantly slow cognitive decline and reduce brain plaque in patients with early and mild forms of the disease, according to a small study.

The Nasdaq ended just 22 points from its record closing high, while the S&P 500 ended less than 10 points below its record close.

Largely behind this week's gains was a statement from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday which signaled a less aggressive approach to raising interest rates than investors had expected.

"The Federal Reserve's created a situation where there's very little alternative to equities, so the path of least resistance for stocks will be up for a period of time," said Robert Lutts, president, chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 168.62 points, or 0.94 percent, to 18,127.65, and the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.79 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,108.06. The Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 34.04 points, or 0.68 percent, to 5,026.42, a 15-year high.

For the week, the Dow gained 2.1 percent while the S&P 500 rose 2.7 percent, both snapping a three-week run of losses. The Nasdaq ended up 3.2 percent.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, was down 7.5 percent.

Stocks trimmed gains just ahead of the close, which marked the expiration of stock options, index options, index futures and single-stock futures, known as quadruple witching.

The dollar .DXY was off 1.5 percent against a basket of major currencies and registered its biggest weekly decline since 2011. [USD/]

Tiffany & Co. (TIF.N) shares lost 4 percent to $82.93 after the upscale jeweler said quarterly sales fell for the first time in five years and are expected to decline further in the current quarter, hurt by the strong dollar.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,452 to 632, for a 3.88-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,661 issues rose and 1,116 fell for a 1.49-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index posted 86 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the NasdaqComposite recorded 209 new highs and 31 new lows.

Volume was high. About 9.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.6 billion daily average for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.