US stocks ended with good gains on Thursday, 22 October, 2009. Stocks faltered a bit in the initial hours of trading reacting in a mixed fashion to the batch of earning reports. But then, with the help of financial sector, stocks fought back and ended the day with impressive gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 131.95 points at 10,081.31. Nasdaq ended higher by 14.56 points at 2165.29. S&P 500 ended higher by 11.51 points at 1092.91.
All ten sectors ended in the green led by financials, consumer discretionary and materials sectors.
Among the Dow components that reported earnings today since morning were AT&T, Travelers, 3M and McDonald's. Each of these components provided leadership after they all unveiled positive earnings surprises. Fellow Dow component Merck also posted better-than-expected earnings, but it has struggled to garner support among traders.
Among economic reports expected for the day, The Labor Department in US reported on Thursday, 22 October, 2009 that initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose for the week that ended on 17 October, 2009, after two straight weekly declines. First-time claims for the week ended 17 October were up 11,000 to 531,000. The prior week's claims level was revised higher by 6,000 to stand at 520,000.
The four-week moving average of new claims, considered a better gauge of the labor market by smoothing out volatility in the weekly data, inched lower by 750 to 532,250, the lowest level since mid-January. This was the seventh consecutive drop in the four-week average.
A separate report indicated that leading indicators for September increased 1.0%, which is better than the 0.8% increase that was widely expected. Home prices for August fell 0.3% month-over-month, which missed the 0.3% month-over-month gain that was widely forecast.
Financials were among the best performing stocks this session, thanks to strength among regional banks. Pleasing quarterly reports from PNC and Fifth Third drove the regional banking group to a gain.
Crude prices ended little lower at Nymex on Thursday, 22 October, 2009. Prices fell due to the weaker than expected economic report that hit the wires today. The strong dollar was also the reason why crude pared its early gains today.
On Thursday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for December delivery closed at $81.84/barrel (lower by $0.12 or 0.1%). Earlier during the day, it fell to a low of $79.84. but also rose past $82. Last week, crude ended higher by 9.4%, the biggest weekly gain in two months. In the past two weeks, crude has climbed up by almost 18%.
In the currency market on Thursday, the dollar index, which calculates the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by almost 0.2%. Earlier during the day, it rose by almost 0.6%.
Indian ADRs ended mixed today. HDFC Bank was a top gainer soaring 1.7%. Tata Motors was a top loser shedding 2.7%.
Tomorrow, there are no economic data expected. A few earning reports are expected though.
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