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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end higher amid mixed data

Xinhua, August 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to close higher Monday as investors digested mixed economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67.78 points, or 0.39 percent, to 17,545.18. The S&P 500 increased 10.90 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,102.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 43.46 points, or 0.86 percent, to 5,091.70.

The August 2015 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that business activity declined for New York manufacturers.

The headline general business conditions index tumbled 19 points to minus 14.9, its lowest level since 2009 and well below market consensus of a 4.75-percent gain, reported the New York Fed Monday.

Meanwhile, builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in August rose 1 point to a level of 61 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This is the highest reading since November 2005.

Wall Street will also keep a close eye on the Fed minutes scheduled for release Wednesday, which was expected to give more clues on the timing of an interest rate hike.

In corporate news, Tesla Motors Inc. surged 4.87 percent to 254. 99 U.S. dollars a share Monday after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the company to 465 dollars per share, citing the electric car maker is poised to dominate a new era for the automobile.

Overseas, Japan's gross domestic product shrank by an annualized 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2015, contracting for the first time in three quarters, government data showed Monday.

The Japanese benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, however, ended 0.49 percent higher as the contraction of the second quarter 2015 was better-than-expected.

European equities finished mixed Monday as official data show the first estimate of the eurozone's exports were up 12 percent year on year in June, with French benchmark index CAC 40 rising 0. 57 percent. Endite