Roundup: U.S. stocks add gains despite NYC Ebola case
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E-mail Xinhua, October 25, 2014
U.S. stocks rose Friday to end the week on a strong note, as investors brushed off the first confirmed Ebola case in New York City, while keeping a close eye on mixed corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 127.51 points, or 0.76 percent, to 16,805.41. The S&P 500 advanced 13.76 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,964.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 30.92 points, or 0.69 percent, to 4,483.71.
For the week, the three indices posted solid gains, up 2.6 percent, 4.1 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively.
A New York doctor who returned recently from West Africa was tested positive for Ebola late Thursday, becoming the city's first diagnosed case, triggering panic among New Yorkers.
Meanwhile, easing some fears over the deadly virus, a U.S. nurse infected with Ebola after caring for a patient from Liberia in Texas "is now virus free" and was being discharged from the hospital, said the U.S. National Institutions of Health on Friday.
Having experienced huge market volatility recently amid global growth fears, Ebola and geopolitical risks, investors appeared to attach more importance to fundamentals of the U.S. equity market, such as ongoing corporate earnings which had fared well so far.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, was down 2.54 percent to end at 16.11 on Friday.
Earnings from key companies came out mixed Friday. Before Friday's opening bell, United Parcel Service posted diluted earnings per share of 1.32 U.S. dollars for the third quarter on revenues of 14.29 billion dollars, both topping analyst expectations.
Household products maker Procter & Gamble reported core earnings per share of 1.07 dollars for the first quarter fiscal year 2015 in line with market consensus on revenues that were shy of estimates.
Ford Motor delivered after-tax third quarter earnings per share of 24 cents, excluding special items, surpassing analyst estimates. However, its revenues trailed analyst forecast.
On the economic front, sales of U.S. new single-family houses in September rose 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000, the highest since July 2008, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday. But new home sales in August were revised down substantially.
In other markets, the dollar retreated against other major currencies and fell against Japanese yen for the first time in six days as the spread of Ebola virus sparked market demand for safe- haven assets.
In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.2666 dollars from 1.2653 dollars in the previous session. The greenback bought 108.07 Japanese yen, lower than 108.19 yen of the previous session.
Crude prices retreated following a sharp rebound the day before.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery moved down 1.08 dollars to settle at 81.01 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery dropped 70 cents to close at 86.83 dollars a barrel.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as bargain hunting caused a rebound after a two-day decline.
The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 2.7 dollars, or 0.22 percent, to settle at 1,231.8 dollars per ounce. Endite
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