The market is on a tear this afternoon with all three major indexes shooting higher throughout the day. The big news powering the surge is favorable global manufacturing data and the welcome news that the U.S. is still growing.
The index of the U.S. manufacturing sector rose in January to the highest point in seven months. China's and Germany's manufacturing output also recorded gains for the period.
Here is a look at where the markets sit now:
Index |
Gain / Loss |
Gain / Loss % |
Ending Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
+ 115.57 | +0.91% | 12,748.48 |
Nasdaq | + 35.27 | +1.25% | 2,849 |
S&P 500 | +14.33 | +1.09 | 1,326 |
The movers and shakers
Bank of America
Computer and printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
The dismissal is good news for the tech company, which has had a rough year with its revolving-door CEO position and has realized generally weak performance over the past five years. 2012 is shaping up to be a great year for tech stocks, and the tech-biased Nasdaq has already clocked twice the year-to-date gains of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Looking past today
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