US Market Update

Friday, the US stock markets closed higher on the back of better than expected economic data and earnings results from several retailers. For the month of July, the durable orders jumped 5.9% while new home sales increased 2.8% to an annualized rate of 870K. Further, the speculation of better M&A activity within the battered investment-banking group provided a positive response to the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) surged 142.99 points to close at 13,378.87. The S&P 500 (SPX) index increased by 16.87 points to close at 1,479.37 and the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) grew 34.99 points to close at 2,576.69.

Boeing, Wal Mart and Exxon Mobil were the main gainers in Dow.

A total of 1.3bn shares were traded on the NASDAQ, while advances outpaced the declines by 9 to 5. On NYSE around 0.9bn shares traded for the day, with advances outpaced the declines by 3 to 1.

Crude oil prices closed at $71.09per barrel higher by $1.26 in NYME. Crude oil Prices grew on account of upbeat data on the U.S. economy as well as a steep fall in gasoline inventories, but ultimately suffered from an unexpected rise in U.S. supplies and reports of Mexico''s post-hurricane resumption of oil output.