U.S. stocks closed the session higher overnight as investors welcomed news from the Federal Reserve that the economy is continuing to stabilise. A lower U.S. dollar helped to boost Technology and industrial stocks overnight.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points to 9,547. The S&P500 Index up 8 points to 1,033 and the NASDAQ added 23 points to 2,060.
In economic news: The U.S. Federal Reserve’s beige book showed that economic conditions continued to improve throughout its 12 districts in July and August. However consumer spending remained low.
In company news: Shares in maker of the iPhone Apple Inc (NASDAQ:APPL) fell 1.04 per cent to $171.14. CEO Steve Jobs made his first appearance at an Apple event since taking medical leave for the past six months. Mr Jobs announced a new version of iTunes at an Apple media event, Apple also cut prices on its range of iPods by as much $120.
Shares in fast-food chain McDonalds Corporation (NYSE:MCD) lost 2.01 per cent to $55.09. The company reported a 2.2 per cent increase in global sales at stores open a year or more in August. This was the slowest growth in close to a year as a slump in the U.S. and Asian outweighed a lift in Europe.
Shares in Textron Inc (NYSE:TXT) rose 2.39 per cent to $18.41. The multi-industry company says it expects an increase of 8 to 10 per cent in revenue over the next five years. And shares in global alternative asset manager Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG) soared 19.02 per cent to $5.32. Barclay’s Capital upwardly revised its rating on the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal weight’ and increased its price target from $3 to $9. Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: Making the most gains on Wednesday was Juniper Networks, its shares added 7.62 per cent to $26.14. Wynn Resorts and Garmin were the next best performers. The worst performer overnight was Activision Blizzard, its shares fell 2.35 per cent to $11.66. Electronic Arts and Hansen Natural also followed in the red.
