OREANDA-NEWS. October 7, 2011. US stocks rose on Tuesday with Financials (+3.15%) and Industrials (+2.1%) as the leaders. S&P 500 index rose by 1.83%, Russell 2000 Index – added 2.38%. VIX slumped by 4.02% to 36.27.  ECB liquidity program expansion added optimism to markets.

Economic data were neutral. Initial jobless claims declined to 401K vs consensus forecast of 410K.

Chain store sales rose 5.5% in September.

EURUSD closed near 1.342.

Asian stocks were green on Friday. S&P/ASX added 2.29%. Korean Kospi rose by 2.89%. Nikkei added 0.98%.

The European stock indices futures rose slightly in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures was up by 0.19% while Dax futures added 0.19%. S&P futures lost 0.02%.

In the US, employment data for September, due at 16:30, Wholesale Inventories, due at 14:00 GMT, and Consumer Credit, due at 17:00 will be in focus today.