New York, Feb 27 (Inditop.com) US stocks fluctuated in a narrow range and ended slightly higher Friday as mixed economic data offered little help to investors who were eager to figure out the direction of the recovery, Xinhua reported.
The Dow Jones inched up 4.23, or 0.04 percent, to 10,325.26. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.56, or 0.14 percent, to 1, 104.49 and the Nasdaq was up 4.04, or 0.18 percent, to 2,238.26.
Major averaged retreated for the week but still erased much of the January losses, with both the Dow and S&P up more than 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq gaining 4.2 percent in February as investors tried to seek more signs of recovery.
However, Friday’s data came in mixed, showing business activity expanded and gross domestic product topped estimates while home sales missed projections.
The Commerce Department said before the opening bell that US real gross domestic product in the final three months of 2009 was revised up to 5.9 percent from 5.7 percent estimated last month. The revision was exactly in line with expectations of economists surveyed.
The news was welcoming but did little to boost market sentiment as nearly two thirds of the growth in GDP in the fourth quarter was tied to businesses rebuilding inventories, which was not sustainable and expected to slow in the coming quarters.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose to 62.6 in February from 61.5 in January, reassuring the recovery in manufacturing sector was well on track.
However, a report from the National Association of Realtors showed sales of previously owned homes in the US unexpectedly plunged in January, showing the housing market was still struggling to recovery.
On company news front, AIG fell 10 percent to $24.77, the biggest loss in the S&P 500, after the company reported a worse-than-expected $9-billion loss Friday, a reminder that the financial sector was far from healthy.
