Looks like the LIB's will be needing some new Ammo LMAO
Stocks Rally on Strong GDP Data
Thursday, July 31, 2003
NEW YORK — Wall Street rallied Thursday as investors reacted positively to a strong economic report showing gross domestic product advanced much faster than expected in the second quarter.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 101 at 9,301. The Nasdaq Composite was up 23 at 1,744, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 10 at 997.
The main force driving the rally was new data released by the Commerce Department showing the U.S. economy grew at a brisk 2.4 percent annual clip in the second quarter, driven by a surge in defense spending.
The pickup in gross domestic product, or GDP, from an annual rate of 1.4 percent in each of the two prior quarters, easily beat Wall Street economists' forecasts for a 1.5 percent pace of second-quarter growth.
Also on Thursday, the government said the weekly number of Americans lodging new jobless claims drifted down unexpectedly to the lowest level since February.
The level of new claims, which gives an early reading on the resilience of the job market, edged down by 3,000 in the July 26 week to 388,000 from a revised 391,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said.
"The fact that these numbers came in so good, you can only expect there's going to be even better numbers tomorrow," said Jack Francis, co-head of equity trading at UBS.
Friday brings another big batch of economic numbers, including closely watched reports on both the labor market and the manufacturing sector.
The Purchasing Management Associated of Chicago (search) also reported encouraging economic data. The group's index of area business activity rose to 55.9 in June on a seasonally adjusted basis from 52.5 in May, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
A reading above 50 signals that the manufacturing sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates it is contracting. The July reading exceeded analysts' forecast calling for 53.8.
Adding to the optimism on Wall Street, several corporate giants reported strong earnings in the second quarter.
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), the maker of Tide laundry detergent, Pringles potato chips and about 300 other consumer products, said profit rose as newer products and the weak dollar helped boost sales. Shares were up $1.50, or 1.7 percent, to $89.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, said its second-quarter profit rose on higher oil and gas prices and improved refining margins. Exxon was up 28 cents to $35.60.
Insurer Chubb Corp. (CB) said after the close of trading on Wednesday that its quarterly profit rose 20 percent. Its shares were up 4.2 percent, or $2.60, to $64.50.
CVS Corp. (CVS) climbed $1.15 to $30.08, adding to the $1.20 it gained Wednesday when the drug store company reported second-quarter profits that beat analysts' expectations by a penny a share. On Thursday, Morgan Stanley upgraded CVS to "overweight" from "equal-weight."
Tech stocks were also performing well after investment backing. As part of its changing view on the semiconductor business, Merrill raised its ratings on Intersil Corp. (ISIL), Linear Technology Corp. (LLTC), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM), Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP), National Semiconductor Corp. (NSM) and Semtech Corp. (SMTC) to "buy" from "neutral."
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners about 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume came to 993.95 million shares, up from 820.05 million at the same point Wednesday.
The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, rose 5.42, or 1.2 percent, to 478.22.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished Thursday down 0.7 percent. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent, France's CAC-40 rose 1.2 percent and Germany's DAX index advanced 1.3 percent.
All day long, they lie in the sun, and when the sun goes down, they lie some more.
