World stock markets daily report (December 20, 2010)

Most US stocks rose Friday, sending the S&P 500 Index to a two-year high, as better-than-projected earnings forecasts at Oracle Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. While the takeover of a regional bank overshadowed concern Europe's debt crisis will spread. Oracle ORCL jumped 3.9 percent to the highest price since 2001. Marshall & Ilsley corp. MI surged 18 percent as Bank of Montreal BMO agreed to buy the lender for $4.1 billion. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. FCX advanced 2 percent as metals rose. Drug makers slipped, with Merck & Co. MRK dragging down the Dow Jones Industrial Average after AstraZeneca Plc failed to win U.S. approval for a new blood thinner. Continue reading the article.