US stocks close higher as Arm shares surge on debut
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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 - US stocks closed higher on Thursday as traders digested strong retail sales figures, while shares of the chip designer Arm popped on its trading debut.
Retail sales defied expectations to accelerate slightly in August, as a spike in gas prices boosted sales at service stations, while US wholesale prices also increased as demand for energy surged.
“Retail sales were much better than expected. That’s positive,” Mr Art Hogan, of B. Riley Wealth Management, told AFP.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent to 34,907.11, while the broad-based S&P 500 ended the day up 0.8 per cent at 4,505.10.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also advanced 0.8 per cent to 13,926.05, capping a positive day that saw the successful initial public offering (IPO) of the British chip designer Arm.
The SoftBank-supported firm finished its first trading day up almost 25 per cent, leaving it with a market capitalisation of more than US$65 billion (S$88 billion) – well above its target.
The IPO of around 10 per cent of Arm netted SoftBank close to US$5 billion while leaving it with control over the remaining 90 per cent of the company.
“I want to keep as much as possible as long as possible,” SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son told CNBC on Thursday.
“I’m a long-term believer,” he added. AFP
