BENGALURU: US stocks rose on Friday, the last day of the third quarter, helped by gains in financials and technology stocks.
The S&P 500 financial index rose 0.92%, outpacing the other major sectors of the benchmark index.
The sector had lost nearly 1.5% on Thursday, sparked by declines in Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.
Shares of JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup rose between 0.6% and 1.1% on Friday.
Deutsche Bank’s US-listed stock rose 6.8%.
The stock was hammered on Thursday on news that a number of hedge funds had pulled out collateral as the bank faces a US$14bil demand from US authorities for misselling mortgage-backed securities.
The technology index was up 0.43%, helped by Apple’s 0.7% rise. The stock also bolstered the S&P and the Nasdaq.
“Wall Street was right to worry about Deutsche Bank, but yesterday was a bit of an over reaction, and we’re walking back a little bit today,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
“The spotlight is likely to still be on financials.”
At 9:43am ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 109.13 points, or 0.6%, at 18,252.58.
The S&P 500 was up 10.41 points, or 0.48%, at 2,161.54.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.41 points, or 0.35%, at 5,287.56.
Qualcomm shares rose 3.5% after sources said the company was in talks to buy NXP Semiconductors in a deal valued at more than US$30bil. NXP was up 6%.
Costco was the top percentage gainer on the S&P, rising 4.5% after the company reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
CalAmp was down 13.2% after the wireless device maker reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,030 to 636. On the Nasdaq, 1,497 issues rose and 744 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 7 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 14 new lows. - Reuters
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