Stocks gain on good economic news
Wall Street ended the week with a sturdy advance Friday as mild inflation data and improving retail sales created a brighter economic picture and strong quarterly earnings at General Electric Co. bolstered the gains. Nonetheless, the major indexes finished lower for the week.
Stocks rose after the Labor Department said its core consumer price index grew just 0.1 percent in September, a sign that higher prices have so far been limited to the volatile energy sector. Accounting for energy and food, which are excluded from core inflation, the CPI jumped 1.2 percent.
Investors also welcomed a turnaround in September retail sales that signaled consumers are still spending despite fears of a slumping economy. The market slipped after the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index declined for the fourth straight month, but regained its footing soon afterward.
Michael Strauss, chief economist at Commonfund, said that while the core CPI escaped the impact of soaring oil prices last month, that effect should soon work its way into prices elsewhere.
“The market probably did a reasonably good job anticipating this pickup in inflation,” Strauss said. “Investors are relieved there wasn’t more pressure on core inflation. Unfortunately, we’re probably going to see that pressure in the upcoming months.”
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 70.75, or 0.69 percent, to 10,287.34.
Broader stock indicators also finished higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 9.73, or 0.83 percent, to 1,186.57, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 17.61, or 0.86 percent, to 2,064.83.
Bonds continued their recent decline, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbing to 4.49 percent from 4.47 percent on Thursday. The dollar was mixed against most major currencies, while gold prices inched upward.
Friday’s gains helped cushion another uneasy week on Wall Street as a spate of profit warnings renewed concerns that rising oil prices would whittle down corporate earnings. While some of those fears came undone on solid results from GE and aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., investors remained reserved ahead of next week, when third-quarter earnings reports will start to cascade in.
For the week, the Dow lost 0.05 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.78 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 1.22 percent.
Advancing issues outpaced decliners by 11 to 5 on the NYSE, where volume of 1.7 billion shares fell behind the 1.82 billion shares traded on Thursday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained 9.87, or 1.58 percent, to 633.15.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average dropped 0.21 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.19 percent, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.51 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was higher by 0.27 percent.