US open: Dow gains 130 points on positive news on Greece and dovish Fed

LONDON (ShareCast) - US stocks rallied on Friday supported by healthy gains in European markets as 'Grexit' fears receded on hopes the Greek government and the EU can work out a deal in Brussels. Just after 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 137 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 14 and 34 points respectively.

A joint statement by Greece and their EU counterparts said the country will submit a "full list of specific reforms" in the next few days and the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said he was optimistic the EU will work to restore funding as soon as possible.

European stocks were mostly higher, with Britain's FTSE extending its foray into record territory after gaining almost 0.3%, while the Greece's Athex Composite rose 2.6% after German chancellor Angela Merkel said Athens had agreed to send a list of overhauled reforms to European officials within days.

Having relinquished some gains on Thursday, US markets were continuing to take confidence from Wednesday's dovish statement from the Federal Reserve, as the central bank indicated it was in no rush to raise interest rates.

Friday sees two Fed members speaking, with Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, both voting member of the Fed's rate-setting board this year, giving a speech at 14:15 GMT and 15:30 GMT respectively.

Following the Fed's statement, economists said that speeches from individual members could shed some light on future rate hikes.

In company news, Biogen Idec (NasdaqGS: BIIB - news) jumped 10% after the biotechnology group said trials on its new Alzheimer cure had returned positive results, while sector peer Prothena soared as high as 48% after announcing positive results overnight for its Parkinson's disease study.

Sports apparel giant Nike (Sao Paolo: NIKE34.SA - news) rose 4% after reporting third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations, while Amazon rose over 1% after receiving an official approval to test-fly its drones.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI - news) edged forward 1.3% after the restaurant chain owner reported better-than expected earnings.

Going the other way, jewellery group Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF - news) dropped almost 3% on the back of a small drop in sales.

The dollar was stable against the yen but suffered large declines against the pound and the euro, falling 0.82% and 1.11% respectively, while gold futures rose 0.41% to $1,173.80.

After falling on Thursday, oil prices staged a strong rebound, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 3.2% to $47.04 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 1.5% to $55.25 a barrel.