Wall Street gathers strength

A weak recovery on Wall Street gathered strength overnight, as traders took heart from stronger orders for durable goods and dismissed a spike in oil prices as temporary.

The Dow Jones industrial index rose 89.64 points on the day’s trading to 11,502.51.

The S&P 500 also rose 10.15 points to 1,281.66.

And the tech heavy NASDAQ composite index rose 20.49 points to 2,382.46.

Oil futures rose $US2.10 a barrel to $US 118.37.

But traders dismissed that rise as temporary because it coincided with a storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

The $A was trading at 85.53 US cents a short time ago.

The Dow Jones industrial index has now risen on four of the last five trading days.

One analyst said it seems to be adopting a firmer tone.

But another said the improvement in durable goods sales, while welcome, is still “not great.”

Those sales climbed 1.3 per cent in July, mainly on exports.

That rise was not expected.

The troubled housing institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both saw gains, in US trading, overnight Australian time.