Wall Street is trading higher today, adding to yesterday’s positive close, as investors anticipate moves from the U.S. Federal Reserve and news from Washington, D.C. that the White House expects to eliminate or reduce hundreds of regulations that could potentially create $10 billion in savings for businesses. Manufacturing data from China and Germany also helped to boost today’s gains as numbers came in better than expected. Investors were also able to shrug off weaker-than-expected U.S. housing data, mainly because Wall Street may have already priced in the industry’s challenges. Financial stocks got a lift after leading decliners yesterday as the list of problem banks shrank for the first time since the financial crisis began three years ago. Banks like Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and JPMorgan (JPM) are all trading higher, though investors still seem to be bearish on Bank of America (BAC), apparently. Oil prices are up, trading at almost $86 a barrel. Meanwhile, gold has backed off considerably from a high of $1,917 to trade around $1,855 an ounce.
Major U.S. Stock Indices
DJIA: 11,074.02 (+2.02 percent)
S&P 500: 1,149.65 (+2.30 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,412.82 (+2.88 percent)
Russell 2000: 669.35 (+2.77 percent)
In other news:
- More on the White House’s regulation cuts. The bulk of the $10 billion in savings will come from the elimination of just a dozen or so current rules. [WSJ]
- Facebook, feeling Google (GOOG) and Twitter breathing down its neck, plans to widen its market dominance in the social networking realm with acquisitions of its own. [Bloomberg]
- The U.S. Treasury Department sold $35 billion in four-week bills at 0 percent yields, further indicating that investors are looking for safety rather than growth during challenging economic times. [Marketwatch]
- Deven Sharma, the president of Standard & Poor’s, will step down and leave the rating agency at the end of the year after the first-ever downgrade of U.S. credit happened on his watch. [CNBC]
- Apple (AAPL) is reportedly looking to broaden into the discount-consumer market with a cheaper version of its iPhone. [Fortune]
Check back for more news.
