Wall Street snapped out of its four-day funk Wednesday thanks in large part to some encouraging economic data from Europe and China.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 83.55 points to end at 12,716.46 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 added 34.43 points and 11.68 points, respectively.
It helped that European stocks closed at or near six-month highs on reports that Germany's manufacturing sector grew in January. Meanwhile, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said talks between Greece and its private creditors are only hours away from a deal, a development that could finally put anxious investors at ease.
China’s factory sector also posted strong growth in January.
Closer to home, the pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector rose to 54.1 in January – its highest level since June, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Economists had expected a reading of 54.4. Any reading above 50 indicates an expansion of the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Here are some more details from Wednesday’s trading session:
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
- Today’s gain snaps a four-day losing streak.
- Biggest points and percentage gain since January 20, 2012.
- An intraday high of 12784.62 occurred at 10:26:12 today, representing an increase of 151.71 points, or 1.20%.
- An intraday low of 12632.76 occurred at 09:30:00 today, representing a decrease of 0.15 points, or 0.001%.
- Twenty-seven of the 30 component stocks rose, three fell.
- Today's top five contributors to The Dow's movement and their point contribution: UTX (14.15), CAT (10.60), BA (9.01), TRV (7.34), WMT (6.21).
- Today's bottom five laggards: MCD (-4.92), CVX (-1.74), JNJ (-1.67), IBM (0.15), GE (0.45).
- Down 1448.07 points, or 10.22% from its record close of 14164.53 on October 9, 2007.
- Up 5.60% from 52 weeks ago.
- Up 94.23% from its 12-year closing low of 6547.05 on March 9, 2009.
- Down 0.73% from its 52-week closing high of 12810.54 on April 29, 2011.
- Up 19.34% from its 52-week closing low of 10655.30 on October 3, 2011.
- Year-to-date: up 4.08%.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index:
- Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index, 12811.72 (prelim)*, up 148.45 points, or 1.09%, or approximately $177 billion in market capitalization.
- First gain in five trading days.
- Biggest points and percentage gain since January 18, 2012.
- Highest close since July 26, 2011.
- Down 1933.67 points, or 12.28% (approximately $3.1 trillion in market cap), from its record close of 15745.39 on October 9, 2007.
- Up 103.11% (approximately $8.1 trillion in market cap), from the 12-½ year closing low of 6800.08 on March 9, 2009.
- Up 1.55% over the past 52 weeks.
- Down 3.47% from its 52-week closing high of 14308.37 on April 29, 2011.
- Up 22.24% from its 52-week closing low of 11299.07 on October 3, 2011.
- Year-to-date: up 6.09%, or approximately $939 billion in market cap.
Data courtesy of Dow Jones Indexes.
