Wall Street rose despite weak U.S. economic data

Wall Street rose despite weak U.S. economic data


 Stocks on Wall Street ended higher on Thursday (Friday morning GMT ) , as investors shrugged off some disappointing U.S. economic data are largely associated with severe winter weather .

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.67 points ( 0.58 percent) to 16133.23 , AFP reported .

The broad-based S & P 500 advanced 11.03 points ( 0.60 percent) to 1839.78 , about eight points from a record high in mid-January .

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index rose 29.59 points ( 0.70 percent ) to 4267.55 .

Hesitant market in early trade before heading north to the rest of the session , despite the economic reports came in weaker than expected .

Jobless claims fell last week , but not as much as anticipated . Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index for the Mid- Atlantic region unexpectedly fell into negative territory , be -6.3 in February from 9.4 in January .

" Almost every U.S. economic reports released over the past month has been distorted by the brutal winter weather . Temperature will rise and the economy will eventually normalize the data , but we still have at least another month of weak economic data value in the future, " said Kathy Lien of BK asset Management .

Verizon Communications led the Dow higher , surged 3.4 percent , followed by DuPont rose 1.7 percent .

Wal - Mart is the leading stocks ( blue - chip ) is left behind , falling 1.8 percent after its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings showed a 0.4 percent drop in sales at its stores in the U.S. .

Wal - Mart's adjusted earnings amounted to 1.60 dollars per share, beating estimates of a penny , but forecast the current quarter earnings well below Wall Street expectations .

In the field of mergers and acquisitions , Facebook rose 2.3 percent after buying the messaging service WhatsApp worth 19 billion dollars in cash and shares that was announced on Wednesday afternoon .

Rival messaging service , Twitter , up 2.0 percent and the maker of smart phones ( smartphones ) BlackBerry jumped 3.8 percent .

Tesla surged 8.4 percent after the luxury electric carmaker reported quarterly results stronger than expected and predicted a big rise in sales in 2014 .

PepsiCo rose 1.2 percent . Activist investor Nelson Peltz reportedly delivered a letter to the council calling for the company to separate the company global snacks and drinks Pepsi to increase shareholder value .

Bond prices fell . The yield on U.S. government 10 - year futures rose to 2.75 percent from 2.73 percent on Wednesday , while the 30 - year bond rose to 3.73 percent from 3.71 percent . Prices and bond yields move inversely .