United States stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher for a second day, as data showed the economy expanded at a faster pace in the second quarter and concerns over Syria eased.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, that Verizon Communications Incorporated added three per cent as Vodafone Group Plc said the companies are in talks over their Verizon Wireless venture.
Guess Incorporated rallied by 13 per cent after the apparel maker reported second-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Exxon Mobil Corporation lost 1.6 per cent as oil futures fell from a two-year high reached.
The S&P 500 rose by 0.4 per cent to 1,641.53 at 3:22 p.m. in New York, paring an earlier advance of as much as 0.7 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 43.59 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 14,868.10.
“That’s just one confirmation that the data is continuing to move in the right direction,” Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds, which oversees about $400bn, said in a phone interview.
“That gives more evidence why the Fed should ultimately taper. But over the last couple of months the markets have been a lot more comfortable with that notion.”
Gross domestic product rose at a 2.5 per cent annualised rate, up from an initial estimate of 1.7 per cent, Commerce Department figures showed in Washington. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 2.2 per cent gain.
Jobless claims in the week ended August 24 dropped 6,000 to 331,000 from a revised 337,000 the week before that was higher than initially reported, the Labor Department said in Washington.
The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a drop to 332,000.
The equity benchmark has fallen by 2.6 per cent in August amid speculation the Fed will pare stimulus measures and concern the US will take military action against Syria.
Minutes of the Fed’s July meeting released on August 21 showed policy makers supported cuts to the central bank’s bond-buying program this year if the economy improves in line with its forecasts.