Banks and energy companies lead rebound in US stocks
Banks and energy companies have led US stocks higher and erased modest losses from the day before.
Retailers and makers of consumer products also posted solid gains.
Small-company stocks rose more than the rest of the market and technology stocks lagged.
Trading was mostly subdued as investors looked ahead to the long holiday weekend.
"Most of the optimism of the tax plan was probably built into the market already and I thought we might be in a little bit of a sideways mode here for a while," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading & derivatives at Charles Schwab.
"But we’ve pretty much gained back almost what we gave up in the last two days. It’s a pretty good sign to see that."
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.32 points, or 0.2%, to 2,684.57.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 55.64 points, or 0.2 percent, to 24,782.29. The Nasdaq composite added 4.40 points, or 0.1%, to 6,965.36.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 7.03 points, or 0.5%, to 1,547.11.
The indexes are all on course to finish the month with solid gains.
They have risen over the past few weeks as Washington moved closer to passing its tax overhaul, but they have not done much over the last several days as Congress voted on the bill.
On a day when many traders were starting to look ahead to the long holiday weekend, the market received some encouraging data on the economy.
The Commerce Department said on Thursday that the US economy grew at a solid 3.2% annual rate in the third quarter, slightly slower than previously estimated.
The latest GDP estimate follows a 3.1% gain in GDP for the second quarter. Combined, the two quarters represent the best back-to-back quarterly growth rates in three years.
"GDP is still strong," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments. "A revision of one-tenth of a percentage point is really not much."
Banks and other financial companies accounted for a big portion of the market’s gains. Wells Fargo rose $1.47, or 2.4 percent, to $61.61.
AP
