Stocks On The Wall Street Open Higher Led By Lehman Brothers

New York, NY (AHN) - U.S. stock set to recover on Friday following a report by the Federal Reserve showing less number of primary dealers looking for funding from the central bank.

Additional boost can also come from the news that Citigroup Inc. has upgraded Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to "buy" from "hold" after reporting that the firm has enough cash to run its business.

On Friday, at 10:08 a.m. Eastern, Standard & Poor's 500 Index was advancing by 8.18 points or 0.61 percent by 1,333.94 points in New York.

At the same time, Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising by 69.60 points or 0.56 percent at 12,372.06 points. NASDAQ Index was climbing up by 21.16 points or 0.91 percent to 2,301.99 points.

Lehman Brothers, which closed Thursday at $38.71, added as much as 5 percent during the pre-open market after Citigroup's analyst said the company's share price was "extremely attractive" and set a $65 target price for its shares.

"[Citigroup's upgrade] could help sentiment as there has been so much bad news for banks and they have been weak for such a long time," Douglas Wright, investment manager of U.S. stocks at Resolution Asset Management in Glasgow.

"Today we are just seeing a bit of window dressing as we are at the end of the quarter," Wright said.

The Federal Reserve data indicated that investment banks and broker dealers applied for funding of more than $30 billion a day during the last one week.

Shares of Bear Stearns increased slightly higher by 0.2 percent after falling down by as much as 4.2 percent during the pre-open market after the firm's chairman James Cayne sold his entire stake in the troubled investment company.

The step by Cayne, who made $61 million on the stock sale, is reportedly in response to JPMorgan's $10 per share bid offer for Bear to takeover and that the company may not receive a better deal from its buyer.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also gained on Friday after the government-chartered mortgage firms is likely to raise almost $20 billion in capital in addition to its agreement to buy more debt securities.

J.C. Penney fell by as much as 14 percent during the early morning trading over its reduced earnings projection due to a decline in its same-store sales in the current quarter. Its per share estimate came down to 50 cent from its earlier projection of 80 cents per share.

In global markets, equities in European markets fail to sustain early gains ahead of volatile sessions on Friday amid rising concerns over the performance of retail and housing sectors as the global economies slowdown.

Asian stocks rallied on Friday, wrapping up the week on the positive note amid biggest weekly gains of this year.

In commodity sector, Crude oil futures for May delivery was fell below $107 a barrel mark following it surge on Thursday due to Iraqi pipeline blast. It was at $107.26 a barrel, down by $1.40 to $106.18 a barrel compared to its 1.6 percent rise on Thursday in New York due to the attack.

Gold futures for June delivery slipped by $10.90 to $937.90 an ounce.