US stocks finished higher overnight, with the Dow extending its winning streak to eight sessions in a row, due improved performances in bank shares and Boeing.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 37 points to 9,581. The S&P500 Index rose 3 points to 1,031 and the NASDAQ added 3 points to 2,028.
The latest economic news was better than expected. The broadest measure of the health of the economy, Gross Domestic Product, contracted at a 1% annual pace in the second quarter, unchanged from the initial reading last month. In the first quarter, GDP declined at a 6.4% annualized rate.
Looking at the job’s market; the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 570,000 last week from 580,000 the week before. In company news:The Dow industrials gain was lead by Boeing (NYSE:BA) which rose 8.36% to $51.82 after the US aircraft manufacturer said its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner aircraft will make its first flight by the end of the year.
Trading was also dominated by a handful of troubled financial companies. In particular shares in American International Group (NYSE:AIG) surged 26.93% to $47.84 on speculation it might benefit from improved relations with former Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who led the company for almost four decades.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) rose 9.07% to $5.05 on a report that hedge-fund manager John Paulson is buying the troubled bank's shares.
Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) was one of the Nasdaq's top gainers, adding 6.71% to about $15.65 after reporting better-than-expected profit and sales just before the market closed.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: Making the most gains overnight was Seagate Technology, adding 12.04% to $13.59. Dell and NetApp were the next best performers. Looking at the downside, NII Holdings was the worst performer, loosing 1.69% to $22.71, followed by Amgen and Research in Motion.
