ByWILL SWARTS
A better-than-expected gross domestic product number and a healthy Treasury sale put stocks in the black for another day and sent the Nasdaq into positive territory for the year. Barring a big selloff on Friday, the major indexes are set to post decent weekly gains for the third straight five-day stretch. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 174 points to close at 7924. For a complete rundown of Thursday s trading session see our market story.
Winners
Consumer spending isn t especially strong, but a growing realization that it s in better shape than expected gave a 6.8% boost to the SPDR S&P Homebuilders fund (XHB), which also includes Home Depot (HD) and Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY) in its holdings. These ETFs have also been helped by data released earlier this week that showed rises in new and existing home sales.
Widespread gains in Asian markets pushed the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI) fund up 5.3%.
Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) gave a boost to the tech sector. That sent the PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ) ETF, which tracks a tech-heavy Nasdaq benchmark, up 3.1%.
Losers
Natural gas prices slipped 9.0% in Thursday's trading, pulling down shares of the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) by 8.6%.
Thursday s Industry Headlines
Launching Pad
Claymore Securities, which runs the Elements S&P CTI Index (LSC) exchange-traded notes, has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new exchange-traded fund that will track the Standard & Poor's Commodity Trends Indicator. The momentum-based commodities index tries to outperform broader commodities market, and tracks 16 commodities futures contracts divided into six sectors: energy, industrial metals, precious metals, livestock, grains and softs. The filing did not specify a proposed launch date.
Thursday s Notebook
Earnings and Conference Calls
KB Home, Nielsen, Sadia, Sinopec
Economic Data
8:30 a.m. Feb. Personal Income
8:30 a.m. Feb. Personal Spending
10:00 a.m. End-March Reuters/Univ. Michigan Sentiment Index
A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Thursday:
| Symbol | Net Assets | Price | 52 Week High | 52 Week Low | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 62,704 | 83.11 | 142.85 | 68.13 | 410,117,191 |
| EFA | 23,224 | 39.35 | 78.53 | 32.16 | 30,221,763 |
| EEM | 17,026 | 26.38 | 51.72 | 19.12 | 76,676,240 |
| GLD | NA | 91.93 | 97.24 | 70.14 | 12,360,823 |
| IVV | 12,951 | 83.3 | 143.08 | 68.24 | 8,808,188 |
| QQQQ | 10,264 | 31.41 | 50.58 | 25.51 | 180,076,590 |
| IWF | 7,987 | 36.74 | 60.06 | 30.49 | 6,390,666 |
| SHY | 7,281 | 84.08 | 85 | 82.11 | 1,249,206 |
| VTI | 7,626 | 41.44 | 71.09 | 33.75 | 6,266,204 |
| IWD | 5,831 | 42.73 | 78.53 | 34.22 | 3,129,136 |
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