Saturday, 28 March 2015 02:27
NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak as traders shrugged off weaker-than-expected US economic growth in the fourth quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 34.43 points (0.19 percent) at 17,712.66.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 4.87 (0.24 percent) to 2,061.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 27.86 (0.57 percent) at 4,891.22.
US economic growth came in at an annual rate of 2.2 percent for the final quarter of 2014, less than the 2.4 percent projected by analysts and unchanged from the prior estimate, according to Commerce Department data.
US stocks fell the first four days of the week on worries about the crisis in Yemen and excessive equity valuations.
“We had so many down days that the market is due for some sort of a pause, but there is nothing really positive or encouraging to help push prices meaningfully higher,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Capital IQ.
Chipmaker Altera surged 28.4 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported it is in talks to be acquired by chip giant Intel. Dow member Intel rose 6.4 percent.
Dow Chemical rose 2.8 percent on news it will separate its chlor-alkali and derivatives business and merge them with chemical company Olin. The deal is worth $ 5 billion to Dow, including $ 2.0 billion in cash and $ 2.2 billion in Olin stock. Olin jumped 14 percent.
Cruise line Carnival bolted 6.1 percent higher as it reported earnings of $ 49 million for the quarter ending February 28, compared with a loss of $ 20 million a year ago, thanks in part to lower fuel prices. Carnival also announced it ordered nine new cruise ships from shipbuilders in Germany and Italy.
Royal Caribbean Cruises rose 6.5 percent and Norwegian Cruise Line added 5.1 percent.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.96 percent from 2.00 percent Thursday, while the 30-year dipped to 2.53 percent from 2.59 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2015
