Wall Street reacts positively to strong housing data
New York - Major US stock indices booked modest gains Wednesday despite disappointing quarterly results from technology titans IBM and Intel.
A jump in housing starts helped all three major indices override negativity in Silicon Valley. Commerce Department figures showed new-house construction jumped 15 per cent last month to an annual rate of 872,000, the most since July 2008. The number exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
IBM, which accounts for 11 per cent of the share-price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average, slid 4.9 per cent. Intel fell 2.5 per cent after forecasting a fourth-quarter gross margin that missed estimates.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.22 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 13,557. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.99 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 1,460.91. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.95 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3,104.12.
The US currency closed down against the euro at 76.23 euro cents from 76.38 euro cents on Tuesday. The dollar rose against the Japanese currency to 79.07 yen from 78.85 yen.//DPA
