Stock Market Watch

Stocks Gain in Early Trading

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U.S. stocks gained sharply in early trade as investors cheered two back-to-back unexpectedly strong economic data releases.

At last check, the Dow Jones gained 0.35%; the NASDAQ Composite Index climbed 0.53% while the S&P 500 Index rose 0.33%.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.7% in the second quarter. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecasted a growth of 1.0%. Meanwhile, the first quarter’s GDP growth was downwardly revised to an annualized rate of 1.1% from 1.8%.

The U.S. private sector added more than expected jobs in July, showed Automatic Data Processing (ADP) job report. According to ADP, 200,000 jobs were added in July. Economists polled by Reuters had forecasted 180,000 new job creations. Meanwhile, June’s job figures were downwardly revised by 10,000 to 188,000.

The Labor Department said that labor cost jumped 0.5% in the second quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a gain of 0.4%.

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its policy rate statement at 2:00 p.m. EST. However, market participants are keener to know bank’s views on current round of the quantitative easing.

Shares of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) gained in early trade. The health plan provider earned $2.63 per share for the second quarter, beating estimates of $2.47, and raised its guidance for the year on strong growth in membership levels.

Shares of Delphi Automotive Plc (NYSE: DLPH) fell in early trade. The auto part maker posted earnings of $1.24 a share for the fiscal second quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimate by 10 cents; nevertheless, it provided lackluster outlook for the current quarter.








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edliston
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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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.

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