Banking shares rally and lift Dow, S&P 500
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - Banking shares led Wall Street stocks higher on Thursday, following better-than-expected data that raised hopes the US economy could avert a recession.
Financials were the strongest of 11 industrial sectors after all 23 large US banks passed a Federal Reserve stress test,
Analysts also pointed to an upgrade in US gross domestic product growth to 2 per cent in the first quarter, as well as lower jobless claims.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.8 per cent at 34,122.42.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent to 4,396.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat at 13,591.33.
The better US growth data followed consumer confidence figures earlier in the week that also topped estimates.
“Investors are starting to put more weight on the idea that we may have a soft landing in the economy,” said Mr Tom Cahill, director of investment management at Ventura Wealth Management.
Large banking shares were uniformly higher, with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo all winning at least 2 per cent.
But Micron shed 4.1 per cent after forecasting a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as chief executive officer Sanjay Mehrotra said the company thought it “has passed its trough in revenue.”
But the forecast still “doesn’t mean that the current and near-term demand environment is booming,” said Briefing.com. AFP
