Stocks End Higher for a Second Straight Day
Stocks finished higher for a second day in a row as investors cheered some solid U.S. economic data. However, the optimism is not expected to last long as focus now turns to the crucial European Union summit, which starts on Thursday.
Expectations ahead of the summit are quite low, with Germany not showing any enthusiasm for a fiscal and banking union in the euro zone. On Tuesday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her opposition to Eurobonds, an idea favored by France, Italy and Spain.
All three major indexes ended higher ahead of the EU summit. The Dow Jones ended the day 0.74% higher at 12,627.01, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.90% higher at 1,331.85, and the Nasdaq ended the day 0.74% higher at 2,875.32.
Industrials led the gains in the S&P 500 in trading today, ending the day 1.40% higher. Industrials rose following better than expected durable goods orders data for the month of May. Energy sector also rose sharply in trading today, ending the day 1.30% higher. Utilities rose 1.26% in trading today. Consumer Cyclical was the only sector to end the day in red today. The sector finished 0.04% lower.
Among the major gainers in trading today were Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA), which ended the day 28.70% higher at $11.39, Lincare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LNCR), which ended the day 23.40% higher at $31.17, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ: LORL), which ended the day 13.42% higher at $65.49, Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: GPOR), which ended the day 10.82% higher at $18.34, and UniFirst Corp. (NYSE: UNF), which ended the day 9.74% higher at $62.99.
European markets ended mostly higher today, with the EURO STOXX 50 Index closing 1.77% higher. Asian markets also rose today, with the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closing 1.03% higher.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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