Stocks advance on strong US economic growth

Ken Sweet, AP Markets Writer

New York (AP) — Stocks rose in afternoon trading Friday after the U.S. reported unexpectedly strong economic growth during the third quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index pushed further into record territory. The S&P 500 is up 27 percent so far this year. If the gains hold the market could have its biggest year since 1997.

Keeping score: The Dow was up 93 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,271 as of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. The S&P 500 index rose 13 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,822 and the Nasdaq composite added 45 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,103.

GDP: The U.S. economy grew between July and September at the fastest pace since late 2011. The Commerce Department reported growth of 4.1 percent, much stronger than most economists expected, thanks in part to a pickup in consumer spending. It was the third and final revision from the government for the third quarter. More important still to investors will be what kind of growth occurred during the final quarter of the year, when Americans typically shift their spending into high gear. Many economists believe that growth in this quarter has slowed to as low as 2 percent.

'Fantastic signal’: "Notwithstanding that this piece of data looks at the economy three months ago, it's a fantastic signal that we're getting robust growth and it looks like it might be accelerating," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for BMO Private Bank, which oversees $66 billion in Chicago.

Strong week: The Dow is up 3 percent this week alone and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up about 2.5 percent. Investors have applauded the Federal Reserve's decision to start gradually cutting back on its economic stimulus program in January as well as last several days of positive economic data.

'Witching' hour: Four times a year, four groups of stock options and futures contracts all expire on the same day. The event is called "quadruple witching" by Wall Street and the simultaneous expiration of these four contracts can cause stock trading volume to be higher than normal and volatility to increase, particularly near the end of the day. The fourth and final "quadruple witching" day of the year occurs on Friday.

Biggest gainer: The software company Red Hat jumped $9.01, or 18 percent, to $58.01, the most in the S&P 500 index. The open-source software developer reported an adjusted profit of 42 cents per share, well ahead of Wall Street estimates of earnings of 35 cents per share.

Biggest loser: CarMax plunged $4.77, or 9 percent, to $48.29, the sharpest drop in the S&P 500 index. The used-car dealership chain reported earnings that missed analysts' forecasts.

Blackberry boost: Cellphone maker Blackberry posted a massive $4.4 billion loss for the third quarter. However, the loss was not as big as some had expected. The stock jumped 88 cents, or 14 percent, to $7.13.

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The Gayly – December 20, 2013 @ 12:45pm