Associated Press
Thursday, February 23, 2006
NEW YORK, Feb. 22 -- A combination of moderate inflation and falling oil prices energized Wall Street on Wednesday, sending stocks higher as investors grew optimistic about an end to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 68.11, or 0.62 percent, to 11,137.17.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 9.63, or 0.75 percent, to 1292.67, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 20.21, or 0.89 percent, to 2283.17.
The core rate of inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose by a tame 0.2 percent in January.
Higher prices for gasoline and electricity sent the broader consumer price index up 0.7 percent last month, the largest rise in prices in four months.
Investors were also heartened by a drop in crude oil futures, which sagged despite recent attacks on oil pipelines and oil workers by militants in Nigeria.
The market has been swinging in recent weeks with each new scrap of data that might influence the Fed as it considers future interest rate hikes.
Many analysts expect the choppy trading to continue.
MoversAltria Group rose $1.18, to $73.38, after the company backed its 2006 profit outlook Tuesday.
Boeing gained $1.34, to $74.39, after it landed the first big deal at Asia's biggest air show.
Pfizer rose 55 cents, to $26.19, after the Food and Drug Administration approved its treatment for a common blood infection.
Sprint Nextel fell $1.13, to $23.80, after the wireless phone company reported a 55 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit on heavy expenses.
Harrahs' Entertainment rose 36 cents, to $72.72, after it posted a hefty fourth-quarter loss, hurt mostly by hurricane-related expenses and costs from writing off a property it plans to sell.
Dow Jones , publisher of the Wall Street Journal, rose 47 cents, to $38.42, after it announced a reorganized structure that will combine the print and online editions of the Wall Street Journal into one unit.
Baidu.com's U.S. shares rose $3.04, to $54.73, a day after the Chinese-language search engine reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
IndexesNew York Stock Exchange composite index rose 45.54, to 8128.20.
American Stock Exchange index rose 0.58, to 1833.85.
Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 6.75, to 733.53.
VolumeNYSE: 2.25 billion shares, up from 2.17 billion on Tuesday. Advancers outnumbered decliners 2 to 1.
Nasdaq: 1.86 billion shares, up from 1.78 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners 8 to 5.
CommoditiesCrude oil for March delivery: $60.52, down 58 cents.
ยท Gold for current delivery: Unchanged at $553.90 a troy ounce.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.