Santa Claus rally under way on Wall Street

US stock traders were in a Christmas mood Friday as the holiday shopping season got under way. Just after noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was ahead 100.26 points or 0.78 percent to 12,937.15. The Nasdaq added 29.02 points or 0.99 percent to 2,955.08 and the S&P 500 gained 10.75 points or 0.77 percent to 955.08. The 10-year treasury note was flat, yielding 1.685 percent. On currency markets, the euro rose to $1.2970 from Thursday's $1.2884 while against the yen the dollar fell to 82.33 yen from Thursday's 82.46. Asian and European markets were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.56 percent to 9,366.80 while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was up 0.79 percent to 21,913.98. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.49 percent to 5,819.14 while the German DAX rose 0.89 percent to 7,309 and the French CAC was up 0.87 percent to 3,528.80. The Australia All Ordinaries fell 0.02 percent to 4,431.50.