Market Movers
Dow Jones: 13,593 (+0.39%)
Nasdaq: 3,184 (+0.89%)
S&P 500: 1,466 (+0.41%)
LONDON (SHARECAST) - US stock markets continued their post-Fed rally on Friday, pushing Wall Street indices to multi-year highs, as investors celebrated the central bank's plan to boost the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 13,593 while the S&P 500 was at 1,466, levels not seen since December 2007. In fact, the S&P is just 6.8% off its all-time high reached in October 2007.
The Federal Reserve announced last night that it will launch its third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, by 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) through to the end of the year.
“This is an ambitious response by the Fed and certainly a step in the right direction as it differs from the first and second QE programmes; however it remains to be seen if the plan is successful and potentially causes some headaches down the road,” said market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital.
US data comes in mixed
Industrial production fell by a monthly rate of 1.2% in August, the largest decrease since March 2009. The consensus estimate was looking for an unchanged reading from July.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose from 74.3 to 79.2 last month, ahead of the 74 forecast. This was the strongest reading since May.
Business inventories gained 0.8% in July, above the 0.4% increase forecast.
Banks, house-builders gain on Fed move
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) $93.60 +11.43%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $24.61 +8.87%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $5.76 +7.26%
Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) $23.99 +6.48%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $36.75 +5.72%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $45.55 +5.49%
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $49.17 +4.71%
Big Lots Inc. (BIG) $31.83 +4.50%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $60.52 +4.34%
Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) $23.89 +4.32%
S&P 500 - Fallers
AutoZone Inc. (AZO) $351.99 -4.86%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $41.06 -3.57%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $32.34 -3.00%
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) $44.08 -2.91%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.65 -2.82%
Hershey Foods Corp. (HSY) $70.09 -2.69%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $96.64 -2.58%
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $32.94 -2.57%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $50.46 -2.44%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $81.36 -2.36%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $93.17 +2.75%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $82.45 +2.38%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.84 +2.18%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $52.24 +2.17%
3M Co. (MMM) $93.98 +2.09%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $59.46 +1.99%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.55 +1.60%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $92.30 +1.17%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $31.21 +0.89%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.49 +0.67%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.26 -2.33%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $43.62 -2.33%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.53 -2.30%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.80 -1.86%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.50 -0.85%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $68.47 -0.75%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $38.12 -0.60%
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) $39.93 -0.50%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $52.35 -0.48%
Boeing Co. (BA) $71.28 -0.42%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $93.60 +11.43%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $115.62 +5.27%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $120.34 +5.24%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $60.52 +4.34%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $58.08 +3.33%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $103.67 +3.27%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $44.26 +3.25%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $61.71 +3.16%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $62.02 +2.95%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $43.05 +2.94%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $50.46 -2.44%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $47.51 -2.36%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $81.36 -2.36%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.03 -1.65%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $80.37 -1.42%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $31.09 -1.14%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.47 -1.01%
Virgin Media Inc. (VMED) $29.80 -0.68%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $77.07 -0.55%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $102.18 -0.55%
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