Global Stocks: Wall Street rebounds, Nikkei at fresh 15-year high

U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday rebounding from a two-day losing streak. The gains brought the two indices back into positive territory for the year. Mixed U.S. data led the greenback lower and tempered the outlook for an interest rate hike. The S&P 500 closed +1.26% with a final quote of 2,065.95 points. The DOW JONES index added +1.47% closing at 17,895.22 points, re-approaching the psychologically important 18,000 points mark.

Chinese stocks continued to go up on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading higher +0.16% at 23,836.73 points. China's Shanghai Composite closed at 3,373.79 points gaining +0.73% at the close. The governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan said responding to critics on Thursday that credit funds flowing into equity markets are helpful to economic growth and that the bank endorses the flow of fund into equities.

The Nikkei posted gains on Friday and extended its 15-year high posting a fifth consecutive week of gains on upbeat sentiment. The index closed +1.39% with a final quote of 19,254.25 points. Industrial Production in January came in at +3.7%, below estimates of an unchanged reading of +4.0%. Year on year Industrial Production declined by 2.8%, more than the predicted 2.6%.