U.S. stocks enjoyed a late boost, finishing with moderate gains after House Speaker John Boehner said he expects to continue working on a budget plan with President Obama. Shares also found support from positive economic data, including a upward revision in Q3 gross domestic product to 3.1%, up from an initial reading of 2.7%. Financial stocks posted the best gains, rising about 1% as a group, with shares of healthcare companies the lone laggards today, finishing little changed for the session.
Lower Start
Stocks started lower today after Boehner said he would move ahead with a vote tonight on a Republican-based plan locking in Bush-era tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million a year. The measure appeared to only sharpen the differences between the White House and Congress over tax rates and spending - with the President promising to veto the proposal should it reach his desk. But Boehner also pledged to keep working on a solution, repeating his charge Obama and the Democrats were "slow walking" the country over the fiscal cliff.
Jobs
In other economic news, jobless claims rose by 17,000 to 361,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department reported. Also, sales of existing homes rose 5.9% to an annual pace of 5.04 million, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), marking the highest level since November 2009 and topping industry expectations of 4.9 million.
Commodities were mixed. Crude oil for January delivery settled 15 cents higher at $90.13 per barrel. January natural gas rose 14 cents to finish at $3.46 per 1 million BTU. February gold fell $21.40 to $1646.50 per ounce while March silver fell $1.35 to $29.80 per ounce. March copper fell 7 cents to $3.54 per pound.
Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average up 59.75 (+0.45%) to 13,311.72
- S&P 500 up 7.88 (+0.55%) to 1,443.69 Nasdaq Composite Index up 6.03 (+0.20%) to 3,050.39
- Hang Seng Index up 0.16%
- Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.28% FTSE 100 Index down 0.05%
- (+) ROMA, Agrees to merger offer from Investors Bancorp (ISBC), receiving 0.8653 of a ISBC share for each ROMA share they now own.
- (+) ELOQ, Oracle (ORCL) offers to acquire the company for $23.50 per share, or about $871 million overall, net of cash.
- (+) TROV Roth Capital initiates coverage with a Buy rating and a price target of $11 a share.
- (+) RAD, Reports Q3 EPS of $0.07, reversing year-ago net loss of $0.06 a share and topping the analyst consensus expecting a $0.02 loss. Guides FY13 EPS above Street with sales next year narrowly lagging analyst expectations.
- (-) FOLD, Six-month data from clinical trial shows the company's Amigal drug candidate did not significantly reduce the amount of fat in kidney blood vessel in patients with Fabry disease.
- (-) MDRX, Last night sacked CEO Glen Tullman, replacing him with Paul Black. Also said it has completed its evaluation of strategic alternatives, concluding the best course at this time is working with the new management team.
- (-) BBBY, Reports Q3 revenue trailing analyst forecasts and guided its Q4 earnings below the Street. Looking forward, BBBY expects Q4 earnings of $1.60 to $1.67 a share. The Street is at $1.75.
- (-) ICE, Offers $33.12 a share to acquire NYSE Euronext (NYX), valuing the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange at $8.2 billion. NYX shares were up more than 33%.