The Commerce Department reported earlier today that the U.S. economy grew at a 4.1% annual rate in the third quarter, a sharp upward revision from the prior growth estimate of 3.6%. The data added to investor confidence, prospects for corporate profit growth, and optimism towards owning stocks and other risky assets for 2014.
Gold rebounded from a six-month low, but is still on track for its biggest annual loss in more than three decades as investors quickly exited the precious metal after the Fed decided to scale back its bond purchases.
Market Indices/Statistics:
- Dow closed up 42.06 pts/ +0.26% to 16,221.14; 18 of the 30 Dow stocks closed higher.
- S&P closed up 8.72 pts/ +0.48% to 1,818.32; 9 of the 10 S&P 500 sectors closed higher.
- Nasdaq closed up 46.61 pts/ +1.15% to 4,104.74
- Utilities were the strongest sector (+0.91%), Telecom was the weakest (-0.61%).
- The VIX is down 0.36 at 13.78
- Gold is up 8.2 to 1201.8
- Oil is up 0.16 to 99.20
- Nat Gas is flat at 4.473
- Yen vs. Dollar is down 0.20 to 104.04
- Euro vs. Dollar is up 0.0011 to 1.3673
- The ICE Dollar Index (USDX) is down 0.12 to 80.53
Top Headlines:
Today marked the quarterly rebalancing of the S&P 500, and the S&P Midcap and Small Cap indices, as well as the Russell rebalancing. The S&P rebalancing accounted for heavy trading activity on the close, with 224 issues increasing shares and 249 decreasing. Total NYSE volume in the last 10 minutes of trading jumped from 800 million to 1.967 billion!
Red Hat Inc (NYSE: RHT, $56.10) jumped 14.49% on Friday and was the best performer on the S&P 500 after the world's largest commercial distributor of the Linux operating system reported third-quarter results above analysts' estimates and raised its full-year forecast.
Navistar International Corp (NYSE: NAV, $37.16) fell 5.83% after reporting another quarterly loss on Friday as the U.S. truck, bus and engine manufacturer continued to struggle to right itself after its introduction of an engine emission technology that failed to comply with tough environmental rules.
Jones Group Inc (NYSE: JNY) announced on Thursday it had agreed to be bought by Sycamore Partners for $15 per share, or $1.2 billion, the latest purchase of a fashion company by the private equity firm. Shares of JNY rose 5.24% to $14.87, just shy of the acquisition price.
