US STOCKS-Wall St on track for 2nd week gains after Google,data
NEW YORK Oct 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on
Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track for back-to-back weekly
gains for the first time since early July after
better-than-expected retail sales and results from Google .Increased optimism that a solution to the euro-zone crisis
would happen added to the positive mood.The benchmark S&P index is up 13 percent from the Oct. 4th
intraday low of 1,074.77, which had temporarily tipped it into
bear market territory.Google Inc led the Nasdaq higher as shares jumped
5.9 percent to $592.16, a day after its results blew past Wall
Street’s expectations, helped by strong advertising sales and
deft cost controls.Apple Inc rose 2.6 percent to $419.23 as the
newest version of its iPhone went on sale across the country.”There are these positive catalysts that may be in place
— earnings being one and a more formalized policy action out
of Europe, more clarity there,” said Natalie Trunow, chief
investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment
Management in Bethesda, Maryland, which manages about $14.8
billion.”To the extent earnings come through as expected or better
than expected, which we think is more likely to be the case,
then that will provide sufficient support for the equity
markets,” she said.The Dow Jones industrial average was up 105.01
points, or 0.91 percent, at 11,583.14. The Standard & Poor’s
500 Index was up 13.63 points, or 1.13 percent, at
1,217.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 30.83
points, or 1.18 percent, at 2,651.07.French and German officials are trying to put flesh on the
bones of a crisis resolution plan in time for a European Union
summit on Oct. 23, overshadowing Standard and Poor’s cut of
Spain’s credit rating, a move that underlined the challenges
facing Europe’s finance ministers.Among U.S. economic data, September retail sales rose 1.1
percent from a month earlier, beating the median forecast in a
Reuters poll for a rise of 0.7 percent. Sales growth during
August was revised upward to 0.3 percent.
