Hopes that President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers will be able to avoid a budget crisis helped world stock markets recover from earlier losses on Wednesday. European stock indexes, which were trading lower all day, closed higher, and the Dow and S&P rose.
The stock market staged a huge rally after investors got the aggressive economic help they wanted from the Fed. The Dow finished up more than 200 points at 13,540, its highest level since December 2007, the start of the Great Recession.
Stocks rallied sharply Friday to extend their winning ways to a fourth consecutive week. That's the longest rally since late April, when the markets hit their last peaks.