国际英语新闻：Wall Street advances on European bank stress tests results

NEW YORK, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street rose Friday on the results from European bank stress tests.

The European Union (EU) said on Friday that seven European banks failed the stress tests conducted to reassure investors of healthiness of Europe's banking sector.

A total of 91 banks in 20 EU countries, representing 65 percent of Europe's banking sector, were examined by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, a London-based EU body composed of national supervisors and central bank representatives.

The latest batch of corporate earnings reports continued to comfort investors with Microsoft Corp., American Express Co., Ford Motor Co. and McDonald's Corp. all reporting earnings that beat estimates.

More importantly, their results showed that businesses and consumers are increasing their spending as the economy recovers.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 102.32 points, or 0.99 percent, to 10,424.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.99 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,102.66 and the Nasdaq was up 23.58 points, or 1.05 percent, to 2,269.47.

Crude prices fell Friday as worries eased about potential damage to Gulf Coast oil operations from Tropical Storm Bonnie.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 32 cents to settle at 78.98 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude lost 37 cents to settle at 77.45 dolalrs a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.

The euro rose against the U.S. dollar after the stress tests results on European banks. The euro advanced to 1.2922 dollars on Friday from 1.2895 dollars on Thursday.