US stocks end higher on manufacturing data, car sales

NEW YORK CITY: US stocks Friday closed higher following solid US and Chinese manufacturing data and good US car sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.80 (0.45 percent) to 15,615.55.

The broad-based S&P 500 tacked on 5.10 (0.29 percent) at 1,761.64, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index nudged 2.34 (0.06 percent) higher to 3,922.04.

The gains came after China's official October purchasing managers' index (PMI) of manufacturing activity climbed to 51.4 last month from 51.1 in September, the highest reading since April 2012.

Stocks were also helped by a rise in the US manufacturing PMI for October from the Institute of Supply Management to 56.4 percent from 56.2 percent in September. Analysts expected the index to decline to 55.0.

October auto sales from the three largest US auto-manufacturers, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, posted double-digit percentage gains.

"We're seeing some economic growth. It's slow, but it is going in the right direction," said Anthony Conroy, head of global trading trader at BNY Convergex Group.

Some of the largest gains in the Dow were posted by Boeing (+1.9 percent), Pfizer (+1.6 percent) and JPMorgan Chase, which rose 1.9 percent despite disclosing that regulators have expanded a probe into whether the bank's hiring practices in China and Hong Kong violated anti-bribery laws.

Chevron, another Dow component, fell 1.6 percent after earnings-per-share underperformed expectations of $2.71 by 14 cents. The company also announced that its 2013 capital spending would be 10 percent higher than originally forecast. Citigroup said the results were "certainly a bit of a disappointment."

Insurer AIG tumbled 6.5 percent after revenues of $8.66 billion lagged analyst expectations of $8.91 billion and the company said the prospects for selling its ILFC aircraft leasing business to a consortium of Chinese investors remained uncertain.

GM advanced 1.2 percent, while Ford declined 1.3 percent following the latest auto sales data. Both companies reported strong October sales gains, but Edmunds described the Ford figures as "a tad lower than expected."

First Solar jumped 17.6 percent higher after profits more than doubled to $195 million on higher orders. The company forecast full-year earnings of $4.25-$4.50 per share, well above the $3.77 projected by analysts.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.62 percent from 2.55 percent Thursday, while the 30-year increased to 3.70 percent from 3.64 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.