Agence France-Presse
5:58 am | Friday, May 31st, 2013
Specialist Peter Giacchi, left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in this Wednesday, May 29, 2013, file photo. US stocks forged higher Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic news fueled hopes the Federal Reserve will continue to keep its foot on the stimulus pedal. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
NEW YORK—US stocks forged higher Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic news fueled hopes the Federal Reserve will continue to keep its foot on the stimulus pedal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 21.73 points (0.14 percent) at 15,324.53, rebounding from the prior day’s losses.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 6.05 (0.37 percent) to 1,654.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 23.78 (0.69 percent) at 3,491.30.
New claims for unemployment insurance benefits unexpectedly rose last week, by 10,000, and pending home sales edged up 0.3 percent in April, when 1.5 percent was forecast.
First-quarter economic growth was revised slightly downward, to 2.4 percent. Analysts thought it would hold unchanged at 2.5 percent.
“The lackluster reports may have helped to alleviate some recent concerns about the Fed possibly reducing the pace of its asset purchases in the near future,” said Charles Schwab & Co.
NV Energy soared 22.5 percent to $23.62 after Berkshire Hathaway unit MidAmerican Energy announced it would buy the Nevada power company for $5.6 billion. MidAmerican offered $23.75 per share.
Berkshire’s B shares were up 1.6 percent.
Facebook rebounded 5.3 percent on upgrades from two analysts after Wednesday’s sharp fall over worries about its advertising business.
Advertisers had voiced concerns after their ads popped up next to Facebook page content viewed as offensive and tasteless.
Dish Networks’s increased bid for broadband carrier Clearwire—countering a bid from Sprint—sent Clearwire shares jumping 29.3 percent to $4.50. Dish rose 0.7 percent.
Dish offered $4.40 per share to counter Sprint’s revised $3.40 per share offer last week.
Cloud computing and data services firm EMC gained 5.4 percent after announcing it would begin paying dividends and expand its share buyback program.
Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held at 2.12 percent while the 30-year rose to 3.29 percent from 3.27 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
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