Texarkana Gazette

FINANCIAL MARKETS

-

NEW YORK—Stocks rose on Monday after the release of some encouragin­g economic data and news of a big acquisitio­n in the semiconduc­tor industry. The gains were modest, but broad. Eight of the 10 industry sectors in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index ended higher, led by industrial stocks with a gain of 0.4 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 4.34 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,111.73. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 29.69 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,040.37. The Nasdaq composite climbed 12.90 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,082.93.

In economic news, U.S. manufactur­ing growth accelerate­d in May for the first time in six months, propelled by more new orders and an increase in hiring, according to the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group. A separate report showed constructi­on spending climbed in April to the highest level in more than six years.

Investors are anxious about U.S. growth following a series of weak data, capped by news Friday that the economy shrank in the first three months of the year. They’ll have a better sense of the growth outlook later this week after several other economic reports are released, culminatin­g Friday with one on hiring in May.

Investors are also anxious about when the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates. It has held them near zero since for more than six years to encourage borrowing and spending.

In Europe, tensions remain high as Greece inches closer to a Friday deadline to make a debt payment to the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund. Greece is struggling to convince the IMF and creditors in Europe that it has a reform strategy in place so it can get access to more bailout cash. Germany’s DAX rose 0.2 percent while the CAC-40 in France gained 0.4 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite jumped 4.7 percent following a steep plunge last week triggered partly by a pullback on lending to investors at brokerages. Officials in China are worried that stocks have risen too far, too fast. The index is up 137 percent in the past 12 months.

The price of oil slipped slightly as the dollar gained strength, making oil less attractive to holders of foreign currencies. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 10 cents to close at $60.20 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for internatio­nal oil used by many U.S. refineries, fell 68 cents to close at $64.88 a barrel in London.

In other futures trading on the NYMEX:

• Wholesale gasoline fell 2.1 cents to close at $2.042 a gallon.

• Heating oil fell 2.4 cents to close at $1.926 a gallon.

• Natural gas rose 7 cents to close at $2.649 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States