S&P 500, Dow Score Record Closes As Stocks Rise

U.S. stocks stepped higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average achieving record closes, after better-than-expected reports on consumer sentiment, employment and Chicago-area business conditions.

The S&P 500 SPX +0.25%  gained 4.48 points, or nearly 0.3%, to finish at 1,807.23, topping Friday’s record close. Hewlett Packard Co. HPQ +0.48%   fared best among S&P 500 components, jumping 9% after its stronger-than-anticipated quarterly results late Tuesday

The Dow DJIA +0.15%  rose 24.53 points, or almost 0.2%, to end at 16,097.33 for its fifth straight record close, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP +0.67% climbed 27 points, or 0.7%, to finish at 4,044.75. The Nasdaq moved further above 4,000 after closing above that milestone level for the first time in 13 years on Tuesday.

In Wednesday’s pre-holiday deluge of economic data, the consumer-sentiment report was the most critical news, according to Kristina Hooper, a U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors.

“The consumer is in the recovery room,” Hooper told MarketWatch. She said the consumer was “dramatically damaged by the shutdown and the debt-ceiling debate,” but most of the damage from that government dysfunction appears to have been short-term.

On Tuesday, stocks finished slightly higher, with the Nasdaq scoring its first close above 4,000 since September 2000.

Source: Marketwatch