Dow And S&P 500 Reach New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, benefiting from a positive reaction to a batch of largely upbeat economic data. With the gains, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs and the Nasdaq climbed further above 4,000.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) jumped 9.1 percent after the tech giant reported better than expected fourth quarter results. The company also provided first quarter and full-year earnings guidance in line with estimates.

With Hewlett-Packard helping to lead the way higher, computer hardware stocks showed a strong move to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surged up by 2.1 percent to a record closing high.

Along with HP, Apple (AAPL) and Western Digital (WDC) also posted notable gains, advancing by 2.4 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Considerable strength also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in eleven years.

The strength among airline stocks came on the heels of news that American Airlines and US Airways (LCC) cleared the last major hurdle to their long-awaited merger.

Commercial real estate, biotechnology, and networking stocks also saw some strength on the day, while weakness was visible among energy stocks.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, although the Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq climbed 27.00 points or 0.7 percent to 4,044.75, the Dow edged up 24.53 points or 0.2 percent to 16,097.33 and the S&P 500 rose 4.48 points or 0.3 percent to 1,807.23.