LONDON (SHARECAST) - - US stocks continue surge on QE news
- Commodities showing strong gains
- Apple gets iPhone 5 lift
Dow: +0.44%
S&P 500: +0.39%
NASDAQ: +1.07%
The QE effect continued on Wall street on Friday morning as investors absorbed the implications of yesterday’s announcement from the Fed.
The Fed said last night that it will launch a third round of so called quantitative easing, or QE3. The plan involves purchasing mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40bn a month “to support a stronger economic recovery” and make sure that inflation stayed close to its target.
It will also continue its Operation Twist programme to extend the maturity of its holdings.
In other news, retail sales growth in August was the strongest for six months (up 0.9%) while the consumer prices index saw a 0.6% gain in August, the biggest one month increase for three years. Over the last 12 months CPI, or inflation, has gained 1.7%.
COMPANIES
Banking stocks were glowing in the aftermath of the Fed decision and the improved outlook for the US economy: Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co were all making decent gains.
Meanwhile, house-building peers PulteGroup, Hovnanian Enterprises and Toll Brothers were performing well on the back of the Fed’s plan to buy mortgage-backed securities.
Office supply retailer Staples was higher on the back of a report that private-equity firms, including Bain Capital, are considering buying the business.
Tech giant Apple continued its decent performance this week following its iPhone 5 release. Shares hit a fresh all-time high again today, along with internet retailer Amazon.com.
Meanwhile, media stocks such as Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn and Yelp also rose strongly.
S&P 500 - Risers
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $91.07 +8.42%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $24.38 +7.85%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $46.40 +7.46%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $8.78 +6.74%
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $49.83 +6.11%
Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) $23.81 +5.68%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $36.71 +5.61%
CBRE Group Inc (CBG) $20.57 +4.95%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $5.63 +4.75%
DeVry Inc. (DV) $23.12 +4.66%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Southern Co. (SO) $44.81 -2.42%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $96.81 -2.41%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.55 -2.26%
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.30 -2.23%
AutoZone Inc. (AZO) $362.03 -2.14%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.68 -2.09%
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $33.15 -1.95%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $32.70 -1.92%
Hershey Foods Corp. (HSY) $70.65 -1.92%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.83 -1.73%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $93.22 +2.80%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.87 +2.49%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $59.48 +2.02%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $52.16 +2.01%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $81.98 +1.80%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $18.52 +1.54%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.54 +1.48%
3M Co. (MMM) $93.38 +1.44%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $117.91 +1.16%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $92.27 +1.14%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.55 -2.26%
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.30 -2.23%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.83 -1.73%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $43.92 -1.66%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $68.57 -0.61%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.73 -0.55%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $52.49 -0.21%
Boeing Co. (BA) $71.50 -0.12%
American Express Co. (AXP) $59.00 -0.08%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $91.07 +8.42%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $115.16 +4.85%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $119.81 +4.77%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $62.44 +4.38%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $12.48 +4.35%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $60.16 +3.73%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $114.00 +3.62%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $62.39 +3.56%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $28.26 +3.20%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $43.14 +3.16%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $47.61 -2.16%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $82.24 -1.30%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $51.17 -1.06%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.52 -0.98%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $31.15 -0.95%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.54 -0.76%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $76.95 -0.71%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.83 -0.68%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $30.11 -0.68%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $47.80 -0.43%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - - US stocks continue surge on QE news
