Stock Market News for September 17, 2012 - Market News
17 Settembre 2012 - 11:06AM
Zacks
Benchmarks rose to new multi-year
highs on Friday after the Federal Reserve announced big plans to
boost the economy. The gains came despite investor concerns about
the extent to which the Fed can fix the economy and combat the high
unemployment rate. Several economic reports released on Friday also
helped to justify the Fed's decision to initiate a bond buying
program. The Dow and the S&P 500 were at their best levels
since December 2007, and the Nasdaq soared to its highest level
since November 2000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJI) gained 53.51 points or 0.4% to end at 13,593.37. The Standard
& Poor 500 (S&P 500) surged 0.4% to finish Friday’s trading
session at 1,465.77. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index surged
almost 0.9% to close at 3,183.95. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility
Index (VIX) surged 3.27% to settle at 14.51. Total volumes on the
New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the American Stock Exchange
amounted to roughly 8.45 billion shares, higher than last year’s
daily average of 7.84 billion shares. Advancers outpaced the
declining stocks on the NYSE; as for 66% stocks that gained, only
30% stocks closed lower.
Following the robust gains on
Thursday, benchmarks enjoyed yet another good session as the
announcement of the third round of quantitative easing (QE3) policy
continued to boost the markets. The announcement about QE3 comes
after months of anticipation. Moreover, the central bank did not
restrict the purchase of mortgage debt within a specific time
frame. The Fed announced that it will buy back mortgage-backed
securities worth $40 billion every month till labor conditions
improve.
For the past several trading
sessions, volumes had been low as investors had adopted a cautious
stance awaiting action by the central bank. However, the
announcement of QE3 drove volumes beyond the yearly average for the
second consecutive day. More importantly, the announcement brought
cheer to investors who were awaiting the economic stimulus for
months.
The economic reports released on
Friday were Industrial Production, Business Inventories, Retail
Sales and Consumer Price Index (CPI). The U.S. Department of
Commerce reported data on business inventories and noted a 0.8%
rise in manufacturers’ and trade inventories to an estimated
end-of-month level of $1,592.0 billion in July, the largest gain in
six months.
The Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System reported that industrial production dropped
1.2% in August, the highest since March 2009, following a rise of
0.5% in July. As output was restrained in the Gulf Coast region
during the late August due to Hurricane Isaac, total industrial
production fell by 0.3%.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U) had gained 0.6% in August, after remaining flat last month.
Excluding food and energy, the index edged up 0.2% in August.
Separately, retail sales increased 0.9% in August. This was the
best jump in the last six months. High automobile demand and a rise
in gasoline prices ultimately meant consumers could spend little on
other goods.
Meanwhile, the health insurer
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) replaced food and snacks company
Kraft Foods Inc (NASDAQ:KFT) on the Dow Jones index, because Kraft
will become a smaller company after it divests its North American
grocery business. This change will take effect from September
24th.
Among the sectors, housing was a
major gainer and the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB) soared 2.1%.
Among the stocks, KB Home (NYSE:KBH), The Ryland Group, Inc.
(NYSE:RYL), Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN), D.R. Horton, Inc.
(NYSE:DHI), PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) and NVR, Inc. (NYSE:NVR)
jumped 5.7%, 5.7%, 3.8%, 3.3%, 3.1% and 0.9% respectively.
D R HORTON INC (DHI): Free Stock Analysis Report
KB HOME (KBH): Free Stock Analysis Report
KRAFT FOODS INC (KFT): Free Stock Analysis Report
LENNAR CORP -A (LEN): Free Stock Analysis Report
NVR INC (NVR): Free Stock Analysis Report
PULTE GROUP ONC (PHM): Free Stock Analysis Report
RYLAND GRP INC (RYL): Free Stock Analysis Report
UNITEDHEALTH GP (UNH): Free Stock Analysis Report
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