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U.S. stocks tick up after GDP report

Xinhua, March 30, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to trade higher around midday Thursday as Wall Street digested the country's newly-released economic growth data.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48.54 points, or 0.23 percent, to 20,707.86. The S&P 500 added 5.15 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,366.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 5.56 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,903.11.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, above market consensus of 2.0 percent, according to the third estimate released by the Commerce Department. In the third quarter of 2016, real GDP increased 3.5 percent.

On other economic news, in the week ending March 25, the advanced figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 261,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 254,250, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 246,500.

Investors were also encouraged by rising oil prices, which extended gains around midday Thursday after Kuwait gave its support for an extension of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) production cuts in an attempt to reduce global oversupply.

Meanwhile, traders kept a close eye on Federal Reserve officials. A handful of Fed speakers, including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and New York Fed President William Dudley, will speak later Thursday.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed mixed as investors meditated on the start of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. Enditem