US STOCKS-Wall St gains on oil drop, factory reading
Reuters - March 20, 2008 11:00 AM ET
NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as a sharp pullback in prices of commodities including oil eased inflationary concerns and a smaller-than-forecast decline in a reading on regional factory activity buoyed sentiment.
A broker upgrade of General Electric Co (GE) boosted the stock 3.4 percent to $36.81. Financials rose, with unexpectedly strong results from some investment banks this week helping the sector. An index of financial shares .GSPF rose 3.2 percent.
Crude CLc1 , which sagged below $100 earlier, was down 58 cents at $101.96 a barrel, helping relieve worries about the effect of higher prices on consumers and businesses. Shares of retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) rose 3.5 percent to $52.53.
"The market is starting to price in the fact that maybe we've double-tested this bottom in the S&P 500," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York, adding: "Maybe we're going through this short covering position now with the financial stocks."
The market added to gains after a survey from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region shrank for the fourth consecutive month in March, but by slightly less than the median forecast. For more see [ID:nN20395827].
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 128.63 points, or 1.06 percent, to 12,228.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 12.95 points, or 1.00 percent, at 1,311.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 20.59 points, or 0.93 percent, at 2,230.55.
Helping the Nasdaq, which also briefly rose more than 1 percent, were shares of Intel Corp (INTC) which rose 2.2 percent to $21.56 after the chip maker raised its quarterly dividend by about 10 percent.
Markets will be closed for Good Friday and the U.S. bond market is scheduled to close early on Thursday |
