Written by Gary
Closing Market Commentary For 02-14-2014
Gary is off this afternoon, and the market close is provided by our syndication partner Investing.com. Read the complete weekly wrap from Investing.com here.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday buoyed by a consumer sentiment report that surprised many investors. At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.48%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.08%.
Earlier Friday, the preliminary Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index remained unchanged at 81.2 for February, beating expectations for a fall to 80.6, which drew applause on Wall Street. Elsewhere, the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. industrial production fell 0.3% in January, defying expectations for a 0.3% rise after a 0.3% increase the previous month, though equities market shrugged off the news and blamed it on rough winter weather.
Data also showed that U.S. import prices rose 0.1% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.1% downtick after a 0.2% rise in December. While economic indicators have come in hit-or-miss this year, many went long on stocks betting that the second quarter will bring more robust economic data.
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Written by Gary
