Positive Economic Data Pushes Market Higher
Strong economic data releases earlier in the day pushed the U.S. equity market higher ahead of Thanksgiving Day. All sectors in the S&P 500 made gains, with the rally led by consumer and industrial stocks.
The series of economic data released earlier in the day included initial jobless claims for the week ended November 20. According to the figures released by the Labor Department, initial jobless claims for the week ended November 20 fell 34,000 to 407,000, beating economists’ expectations.
The Commerce Department, meanwhile, today reported consumer spending rose for the fourth straight month in October. According to figures released by the Commerce Department, consumer spending rose 0.4% in the month of October, slightly below the forecast of a 0.5% increase.
Amid all the positive news on the economic front there was some disappointing news on the housing market front/. According to figures released by the Commerce Department, sales of news dropped unexpectedly in October, indicating that the housing market is still struggling to recover.
All three major indexes made strong gains after Tuesday’s sell-off. The Dow Jones ended the day 1.37% higher at 11,187.28, the S&P 500 ended the day 1.49% higher at 1,198.35 and the Nasdaq ended the day 1.93% higher at 2,543.12.
Among the major gainers in trading today were Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), which ended the day 5.25% higher at $61.33, Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES), which ended the day 10.54% higher at $50.12, and Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), which ended the day 4.525 higher at $14.33.
