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Stocks jump after consumer confidence level surges
By TIM PARADIS and MADLEN READ,AP Business Writers AP - Wednesday, May 27
NEW YORK - Consumers' good mood is spreading to Wall Street.
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Stocks are ending with sharp gains Tuesday after the Conference Board said consumer sentiment rose in May to the highest level since September.
Investors watch confidence measures for signs of whether consumers might start shopping more or making bigger purchases such as cars and homes. Spending by consumers makes up more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 196 to 8,473. The S&P 500 index is up 23 to 910, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 58 to 1,750.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) _ Consumers' good mood is spreading to Wall Street.
Stocks surged Tuesday after the Conference Board said consumer sentiment rose in May to the highest level since September. All the major stock indicators jumped more than 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which gained 175 points.
The research group's Consumer Confidence Index vaulted to 54.9 from 40.8, soaring past the 42.3 that economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected.
Investors watch the indicator for signs of whether consumers might start shopping more or making bigger purchases such as cars and homes. Spending by consumers makes up more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
Jim King, chief investment officer at National Penn Investors Trust Co., said the improvement in consumer confidence surprised investors. With unemployment still high and expected to go higher, many market watchers thought the mood on Main Street would remain gloomy.
"The consumer confidence figure is one that no one really pinned a lot of hopes on as going higher," he said.
Traders are seeing green on their screens on the first day back from a long weekend but the compressed week could still trip up the market. Data are due on home sales as well as the economy's overall output in the first three months of the year, and investors will be eyeing General Motors Corp. as its June 1 restructuring deadline approaches.
In late afternoon trading, the Dow rose 182.31, or 2.2 percent, to 8,459.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 20.61, or 2.3 percent, to 907.61, and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 52.57, or 3.1 percent, to 1,744.58.
The Conference Board's report marked the second consecutive month of large gains in its measure of consumer confidence. Its previous report on April 28 helped reverse a slide in the market that day, and investors appeared heartened that the improving trend was continuing into May.
Stocks dependent on strong consumer spending jumped. Macy's Inc. rose 55 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $11.74, while Best Buy Co. advanced $1.77, or 5 percent, to $36.95. Home builder KB Home rose 80 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $15.44, and DR Horton Inc. rose 46 cents, or 5 percent, to $9.47.
Tech stocks showed some of the biggest gains in part after an analyst raised her rating on Apple Inc. She contends the growth of the company's iPhone device has been underestimated. Apple rose $7.767, or 6.3 percent, to $130.26.
Investors have been questioning whether the stock market's massive two-month rally can be sustained given the continuing weakness in the global economy in areas like housing and unemployment. The Dow is up 26.4 percent from its 12-year low hit on March 9, but even with those gains it's 41.6 percent below its peak in October 2007.
Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management, said some money managers are forced to step in when the news is good just because they are afraid of being left behind and showing poor returns.
"You've still got a lot of people left that really don't want to like this market but may eventually be forced," he said. Stone is encouraged by the skepticism because it could help hold the rally in check.
After mixed economic data over the last couple weeks, as well as a huge number of stock offerings by banks, the market is likely to stay volatile in the coming weeks, said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. "The market's had a pretty huge gain here," he said.
GM reversed an early slide after it outlined a deal with labor unions, rising 3 cents to $1.46. However the automaker has yet to reach a deal with its major bondholders and is facing a midnight deadline Tuesday for doing so.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 19.78, or 4.1 percent, to 497.40.
About five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where volume came to a light 940.1 million shares compared with 773.9 million shares at the same time Friday.
Bond prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 3.50 percent from 3.46 percent late Friday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude rose 78 cents to settle at $62.45 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.1 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.4 percent.
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