NEW YORK >> Stronger-than-expected consumer sentiment gave Wall Street a lift today, sending the Dow Jones industrials to its sixth straight weekly advance as investors clung to hopes of a strengthening economic recovery. Consumer sentiment
buoys stock marketBy Hope Yen
Associated PressInvestors fretted over terrorism fears and brokerage downgrades of General Electric and Intel for much of the day before deciding a spate of mixed economic news wasn't so bad after all, analysts said.
"I think the numbers coming out this morning helped to calm people fearing two things: deflation ... and falling consumer sentiment," said Todd Clark, head of listed equity trading at Wells Fargo Securities.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderate. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 36.96, or 0.4 percent, to close at 8,579.09.
The broader market finished mixed. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.38, or 0.03 percent, to 1,411.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.56, or 0.6 percent, to 909.83. The Russell 2000 index slipped 0.32, or 0.1 percent, to 385.92.
For the week, the Dow gained 0.5 percent to post its sixth straight weekly advance. The Nasdaq climbed 3.8 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.7 percent and the Russell gained 1.8 percent.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was up 7/32 point today, while its yield fell to 4.03 percent from 4.06 percent yesterday. The price of two-year Treasury notes was unchanged, but their yield fell to 1.87 percent from 1.89 percent yesterday.
GE fell 64 cents to $23.86 after J.P. Morgan Securities cut the company's stock to underweight, and trimmed their 2003 estimates, citing credibility of the forecasts.
Intel dropped 53 cents to $18.68 after Merrill Lynch downgraded the technology company's stock to sell from neutral.
A series of mixed economic news befuddled investors for much of the day, creating choppy trading.
The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices shot up 1.1 percent in October, the biggest leap in nearly two years. The reading far exceeded analysts' forecasts of a modest 0.2 percent rise, allaying some concerns of deflation.
Separately, production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities fell by 0.8 percent in October, following a 0.2 percent decline the month before, the Federal Reserve reported. It was the worst showing since September 2001, when industrial production plummeted by 1.1 percent.
But the University of Michigan said its gauge of consumer sentiment for November rose to 85.0 from 80.6 in October, ending a five-month decline, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished higher 2.4 percent. In Europe, France's CAC-40 rose 0.4 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1 percent, and Germany's DAX index inched up 0.1 percent.