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1st LD Writethru: Nasdaq extends record run amid upbeat data, earnings

Xinhua, July 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index refreshing its record intraday and closing highs, as investors were meditating on generally upbeat economic data and second-quarter earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 33.80 points, or 0.19 percent, to 18,086.45. The S&P 500 edged up 2.35 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,126.64. The Nasdaq gained 46.96 points, or 0.91 percent, to 5,210.14.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased 0.3 percent in June on a seasonally-adjusted basis, in line with market expectations, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

The CPI showed a 12-month increase for the first time since December, up 0.1 percent for the 12 months ending June.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in June following a 0.1-percent increase in May.

"Given the Fed's propensity to see any increase in inflation as evidence of a lasting rise toward 2 percent and any decline as transitory, this report slightly boosts the odds of a September rate increase," commented Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, U.S. privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1,174,000, beating market consensus, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The figure is 9.8 percent above the revised May estimate of 1, 069,000 and 26.6 percent above the June 2014 rate of 927,000.

In corporate news, Google Inc. (Class A) soared 16.26 percent to 699.62 dollars apiece Friday after reporting strong second- quarter results.

The online search giant posted a second-quarter net income of 3. 93 billion U.S. dollars, or 6.43 dollars per share, up from 3.35 billion or 4.88 per share a year earlier.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2015 are expected to decrease 1.7 percent year on year, while the revenue is forecast to decline 4.0 percent. Excluding the energy sector, however, the earnings growth estimate is a 5.8-percent gain, with a revenue increase of 1.6 percent.

Overseas, Chinese shares continued to rally on Friday as the market is recovering following weeks of sharp ups and downs, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surging 3.51 percent.

In a weekly basis, all three major indices posted solid gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq up 1.8 percent, 2.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. Endite