S&P 500 closes above 1,700 points for first time
Source: AP-Excite
By CHRISTINA REXRODE
NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks roared back to record highs on Thursday, driven by good news on the economy.
The Standard & Poor's 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Russell 2000 index set all-time highs. The S&P broke through 1,700 points for the first time. The Nasdaq hit its highest level since September 2000.
The gains were driven by a steady flow of encouraging reports on the global economy.
Overnight, a positive read on China's manufacturing helped shore up Asian markets. An hour before U.S. trading started, the government reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week fell sharply. At mid-morning, a trade group said U.S. factories revved up production last month. And while corporate earnings news after the market closed Wednesday and throughout Thursday brought both winners and losers, investors were able to find enough reports that they liked, including those from CBS, MetLife and Yelp.
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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130801/DA7TDJ4G0.html
In this Wednesday, July 31, 2013, photo, from left, specialists Peter Kennedy, Bernard Wheeler, and Philip Finale, confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Global markets rose Thursday Aug. 1, 2013 after the U.S. Federal Reserve gave no indication it was preparing to wind down a massive bond-buying program that has propelled investors into stocks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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