U.S. stocks finish higher, Nasdaq shines

Australian News.Net
Thursday 29th May, 2008

U.S. stocks made gains on Thursday, with the Nasdaq leading the way.

The U.S. dollar ended the day sharply higher on a better-than-expected GDP reading for the first quarter.

At the close of trading the Nasdaq Composite was 21.62 points or 0.87% higher at 2,508.32.

The Dow Jones Industrials were ahead 52.1 points or 0.41% at 12,646.22.

The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 7.42 points or 0.53% to 1,398.26.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that the naion's GDP grew at a 0.9% annual rate in the first quarter, up fom the 0.6% estimated last month.

Applications for unemployment benefits last week were higher than expected, the Labor Department said. Meantime the total of those on benefits rose to the highest level in 4 years.

On foreign exchange markets the U.S. dollar was sharply higher. The euro tumbled to 1.5500, and the Japanese yen to 105.58. The Swiss franc fell to 1.0497, while the British pound was modestly lower at 1.9751.

The Australian dollar was off half-a-cent at .9559, while the Canadian dollar was only slightly weaker at .9883.

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