US stocks posted mild gains on Wednesday, ignoring a slump in other global indices blamed on renewed credit fears.
Spain became the latest country to have its creditworthiness doubted, suffering a downgrade from rating agency S&P. Dubai and Greece suffered similar fates at the hands of other agencies on Tuesday because of their deteriorating public finances.
But Wall Street stocks were buoyed after Citigroup analysts upgraded the shares of US conglomerate 3M and mobile phone provider Sprint.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 51.08 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 10,337.05. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index gained 4.01 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 1,095.95. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 10.74 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 2,183.73.
The US currency edged lower against the euro to 67.91 euro cents from 67.97 euro cents on Tuesday and slipped against the Japanese currency to 87.89 yen from 88.35 yen.
