Wall St mainly higher on positive data

NEW YORK: US stocks finished mostly higher Thursday, supported by a series of relatively encouraging economic data as investors weighed a proposed overhaul of the financial regulatory system.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 58.42 points (0.69 per cent) to finish at 8,555.60, snapping a three-day losing streak. The tech-dominant Nasdaq ended nearly flat, losing a fractional 0.34 point (0.02 per cent) to 1,807.72, while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 7.66 points (0.84 per cent) to close at 918.37.

After dipping in opening trade and drifting in positive territory in thin trade, Wall Street resisted a late rout to finish in the green.

“Better-than-expected economic reports raised hopes the recession might end this year,” said Scott Marcouiller of Wachovia Securities. The Conference Board’s closely watched index of leading economic indicators, forecasting conditions in the coming months, surged for the second consecutive month with widespread increases.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s index on mid-Atlantic manufacturing activity rose for the fourth month running, in an unexpectedly sharp gain to the highest level since September.

The government’s weekly report on initial jobless benefit claims sent mixed signals. The Labour Department reported a higher than expected rise in new claims, but a surprise decline in the number of continuing claims, down from the prior week’s new high.

“This is still a disconcertingly high level of continuing claims, but in terms of this series it qualifies as relatively good news today since it marks the first decline in continuing claims since the week of January 3,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on Capitol Hill Thursday, defending to lawmakers the administration’s vast regulatory overhaul plan as “essential” in averting or containing future financial crises.

Wachovia’s Marcouiller said the market had largely taken President Barack Obama’s presentation Wednesday of a sweeping financial regulatory overhaul “in stride.” “This was probably recognition that a significant part of the plan will have to pass Congress and will undergo many changes and take considerable time before anything definitive is enacted,” Marcouiller said.

Financial stocks that had been hit Wednesday by the plan’s unveiling and an S&P credit ratings downgrade on 22 banks rebounded. Bank of America leapt 4.88 per cent to US$12.90, JPMorgan Chase shot up 4.40 per cent to US$34.17 and Wells Fargo advanced 2.64 per cent to US$23.70. -- AFP