Stocks: Weekle review

Japan's Nikkei average rose on Friday for the first time in four days, as a sharp pullback in oil prices calmed concerns that a recent surge could derail the global recovery and nudged investors back towards riskier assets.
Nikkei added 0.7 percent, or 74.05 points, to 10,526.76, led by blue-chip exporters as the yen stabilised below three-week highs hit on Thursday. For the week, it lost some 300 points, or 2.9 percent despite climbing to a 9-½   month high on Monday.
Continued worries about further contagion to bigger oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia were expected to keep the Nikkei under pressure in the near term.
And others noted domestic institutional investors are likely to lock in profits before the end of the fiscal year in March.

European stocks posted the biggest weekly retreat in seven months, led by declines in airlines and automakers, as Libya’s violent uprising boosted tension in North Africa and the Middle East and sent oil soaring.
Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s largest carriers, fell more than 4 percent amid concern the cost of fuel will rise. Oil companies Eni SpA and OMV AG dropped as the revolts hindered their Libyan operations. Porsche SE sank 14 percent as the sports-car maker said its planned merger with Volkswagen AG will probably be delayed into next year because of German legal obstacles.
The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index slumped 2.4 percent this week, the biggest drop since July, as protests against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi threatened to escalate into civil war.
European stocks trimmed their losses for the week today as U.S. consumer confidence rose more than forecast. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for February climbed to 77.5 from 74.2 the prior month. Other releases showed jobless claims fell more than estimated last week and orders for durable goods increased in January.

U.S. stocks rose, preventing the biggest weekly drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since August, as confidence among American consumers increased more than forecast in February to the highest level in three years.
Boeing Co. rose the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, climbing 2.9 percent, after defeating European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. for a $35 billion Air Force tanker program. Intel Corp. added 2.8 percent as Longbow Research advised buying the shares. Salesforce.com Inc., the largest supplier of customer-management software, jumped 4.1 percent after forecasting sales that topped analysts’ estimates.
The S&P 500 rose 1 percent to 1,318.98 at 3:23 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge had fallen 2.8 percent this week through yesterday.
The index has climbed 3.9 percent in 2011 through yesterday, extending last year’s 13 percent rally, as government stimulus measures and improving profits bolstered investor confidence. Per-share profit at 71 percent of the 456 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results since Jan. 10 posted beat analyst estimates, according to data.