Investing.com – Wall Street was higher on Thursday despite data showing that the U.S. economy expanded less than expected in the third quarter.
The S&P 500 rose seven points or 0.27% as of 10:33 AM ET (15:33 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 93 points or 0.38% and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up seven points or 0.10%.
The third estimate of third quarter growth domestic product (GDP) showed growth of 3.2%, revised down from the previous reading of a 3.3% expansion.
That was a negative surprise as analysts had expected growth to remain unchanged from the prior revision.
Payments firm Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) was among the biggest gainers, increasing 1.53% while General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 1.23% and Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose 1.40%. Net Element Inc (NASDAQ:NETE) surged 42.44% after the payments processor announced it would be launching a cryptocurrency division.
Elsewhere semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) fell 2.12% while Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 1.03% and Digital Power Corporation (NYSE:DPW) slumped 5.97%.
In other news, Congress delivered the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years to U.S. President Donald Trump’s desk on Wednesday. The tax bill cuts corporate taxes to 21% from 35%, which some say would encourage companies to spend more, boosting the economy.
In Europe stocks were up. In Germany the DAX rose 39 points or 0.30% while France’s CAC 40 increased 27 points or 0.50% and in London the FTSE 100 gained 76 points or 1.01%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 82 points or 0.81% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 jumped 17 points or 0.50%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.03% to $1,269.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.40% to 57.86 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 92.94.