Woolworths Limited

Wall Street maintained its positive run on Wednesday session as the Federal Reserve officials tipped that the central bank could keep interest rate at historical low level. The Chinese economic data released yesterday also added confidence to global recovery hopes. European markets also rallied on low interest rate expectations.

Wall Street hit new highs for the year over optimism of the corporate earnings. The rise was led by Caterpillar as a broker said the company was among the best-positioned companies to benefit from improving global growth and spending on construction, infrastructure and commodities.

The Dow index gave up last week's success and slipped back slightly over the weekend. US and European stock markets closed lower on Friday after the latest US corporate results disappointed high hopes and pushed Wall Street back down through the key 10,000 points level.

US stocks fell overnight in a choppy trade as the Federal Reserve announcement showed that the central bank remained cautious to the economy outlook. The Federal Reserve acknowledged the economy is emerging from recession, but maintained its near-zero interest rate and trillion-plus dollar effort to support the fragile recovery.

Wall Street closed modestly higher on Tuesday after positive US economic data. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke also said the "recession is very likely over at this point". US retail sales were surprisingly strong in August largely due to government's "cash for clunkers" program, but analysts warned that it may not represent a sustainable recovery in consumer spending.

US stocks closed nearly unchanged Wednesday despite a stronger than expected increase of new home sales and a jump in durable goods orders. The market responded to the positive data with a shrug, as investors remained cautious and took their profits after rallies.

US stocks ended flat overnight in light trade volumes as the market was awaiting the economic data this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher to its highest close in more than nine months.

Wall Street ended the last trading session of July with a positive note on Friday. The Dow increased 0.86% for the week and 8.58% for the month thanks for the better-than-expected earnings reports. The US government reported on Friday that gross domestic product declined by 1% in the second quarter, while economists had expected that number to be around 1.5%. The result gave investors stronger confidence that the worst recession since the Great Depression is likely coming to an end.

Wall Street finished mixed overnight. Dow and S&P 500 indices ended their rising streak while Nasdaq posted its 11th straight rise led by Apple and Yahoo. Investors started to lock in their profits from a series of rallies driven by earnings reports.

Wall Street posted modest gains on Tuesday in choppy trade as investors started to be cautious after the recent rallies inspired by earnings results. In addition, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony the pace of decline appears to have slowed significantly, but the financial system remained stressed and the labour market had continued to deteriorate.