AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.02%)
AIRLINK 127.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.93 (-0.73%)
BOP 6.61 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.15%)
CNERGY 4.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.52%)
DCL 8.58 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.18%)
DFML 41.72 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.58%)
DGKC 87.40 Increased By ▲ 0.82 (0.95%)
FCCL 32.60 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (1.43%)
FFBL 64.87 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-0.84%)
FFL 10.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.29%)
HUBC 109.34 Decreased By ▼ -1.15 (-1.04%)
HUMNL 14.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.07%)
KEL 5.13 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 7.56 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (6.18%)
MLCF 41.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.26%)
NBP 59.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.82%)
OGDC 193.05 Decreased By ▼ -1.64 (-0.84%)
PAEL 28.18 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.82%)
PIBTL 7.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-2.25%)
PPL 151.94 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (0.51%)
PRL 27.15 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (1%)
PTC 16.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SEARL 86.02 Increased By ▲ 7.82 (10%)
TELE 7.75 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (4.87%)
TOMCL 35.59 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.22%)
TPLP 8.18 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (3.41%)
TREET 16.55 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (4.15%)
TRG 53.30 Increased By ▲ 0.54 (1.02%)
UNITY 26.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-0.94%)
WTL 1.27 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,914 Decreased By -5.8 (-0.06%)
BR30 30,749 Decreased By -2.4 (-0.01%)
KSE100 93,700 Increased By 475 (0.51%)
KSE30 29,059 Increased By 174.5 (0.6%)

imageNEW YORK: US stocks on Wednesday finished solidly higher despite a lackluster US retail sales report and some disappointing earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.26 points (0.55 percent) to 16,651.80.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 12.97 (0.67 percent) to 1,946.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced a hefty 44.87 (1.02 percent) to 4,434.13.

US retail sales were virtually unchanged in July from the prior month and excluding the automobile sector, edged up just 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department said.

The report was weaker than analysts expected and highlighted the fragile economy where wage growth is minimal and unemployment, though easing, remains high.

Analysts diverged over the reasons for the stocks rally. A note from Charles Schwab said the market was betting the weak retail sales report would keep the US central bank from raising interest rates sooner than expected.

But Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, said investors are flocking to Wall Street as "a safe haven" in light of international turmoil and after central bank announcements from Britain and Japan suggested easy monetary policy would continue in both countries.

Retailer Macy's sank 5.5 percent as it trimmed its 2014 forecast for comparable sales growth to 1.5-2.0 percent from the prior range of 2.5-3.0 percent. The company cited the continued drag from slow sales in the first quarter due to frigid weather that depressed activity.

Deere dropped 2.3 percent after the agricultural-equipment maker projected a six percent decline in equipment sales for 2014.

Game developer King Digital Entertainment plummeted 23.1 percent after reporting lower revenues compared with the prior quarter due to lower bookings from its signature "Candy Crush Saga" game.

SeaWorld Entertainment sank 32.9 percent as it warned of a 6.0-7.0 percent drop in 2014 revenues due in part to pending California legislation to ban the use of captive killer whales for entertainment aimed at SeaWorld's San Diego park.

InterMune bolted 14.4 percent higher on reports that larger pharma companies have bid for the biotechnology company.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.41 percent from 2.44 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.24 percent from 3.27 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

Comments

Comments are closed.