Stocks finished with modest gains, Thursday, as investors looked to an eventual resolution of the U.S. budget negotiations. Economic news today was mildly bullish, including a revised 2.7% annualized expansion in Q3 gross domestic product, up from a original 2.0% reading. Most industry groups in the S&P 500 ended higher today, led by gains among material stocks as commodities rose as well as a rise for shares of healthcare and technology companies. Energy stocks turned lower just ahead of the closing bell.
Equities briefly turned lower around mid-day after Speaker of the House John Boehner told reporters there has been "no substantive progress" in discussions between the White House and Congress over tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take effect soon after the start of 2013. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid later helped calm fears the U.S. economy will be slammed against the looming "fiscal cliff," while New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said there has been progress in the budget talks.
GDP Revision
The Commerce Department today revised its initial revision of national growth, announcing a 2.7% rise in the country's Q3 gross domestic product - trailing the 2.8% median pace experts in a Bloomberg survey were expecting.
The housing sector continues to show signs of mending, with the National Association of Realtors today reporting a 5.2% rise in pending sales of previously owned houses, topping even the most optimistic expectations in a Thomson Reuters survey. Fewer Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week as the labor market disruptions following Hurricane Sandy ebbed.
Commodities ended higher. Crude oil for January delivery rose $1.58 to settle at $88.07 per barrel. December natural gas fell 15.3 cents to to finish at $3.648 per 1 million BTU. February gold rose $10.50 to settle at $1729.30 per ounce while March silver rose 65 cents to $34.42 per ounce. March copper rose 7 cents to $3.61 per pound.
Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average up 36.71 (+0.28%) to 13,021.82
- S&P 500 up 6.02 (+0.43%) to 1,415.95
- Nasdaq Composite up 20.25 (+0.68%) to 3,012.03
- Hang Seng Index up 0.99%
- Shanghai China Composite Index down 0.51%
- FTSE 100 up 1.15%
- (+) PGNX, Prices underwritten public offering of 11 million shares at $2.00 apiece. Proceeds will be used for research and development and general corporate purposes.
- (+) CWTR, Posts Q3 loss of $0.45 per share, ex items, $0.30 better than consensus estimates. Revenues of $188.1 million topped expectations by $7.34 million. Also said CEO Dennis Pence will retire by year's end and will be succeeded by chief merchandising officer Jill Brown Dean.
- (-) KSS, November same-store sales decline 5.6% from 2011 levels. Analysts were expecting a 2.1% increase. Total monthly sales fall 4.9% to $1.84 billion.
- (-) LQDT, Projects Q1 earnings of $0.36 to $0.40 a share, trailing Street estimates by at least $0.07. Q4 EPS of $0.40 beats by $0.04. Revenues of $122.3 million also top estimates.