Stocks Rise On Strong Durable Goods Data

New York, NY (AHN) - All three major indices rallied off the open after the Commerce Department said orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose 1.3 percent in July.

The durable goods report, which tracks orders for items meant to last three or more years, was well ahead of economists' expectations of no growth from the previous month.

The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 89 points or 0.79 percent as 26 of 30 Dow components finished higher Wednesday. Bank of America was the strongest in the group, up 2.1 percent.

The S&P 500 added 10 points or 0.8 percent as nine of 10 major economic sectors rose on Wednesday. The homebuilders were particularly strong, adding 6.3 percent. Shares of DR Horton led the group, up 6.5 percent on the session. The financials were also strong, up 1.7 percent as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both rose more than 15 percent after Standard and Poor's reaffirmed their debt ratings Tuesday night.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 20 points or 0.87 percent. The semiconductor sector and Nasdaq 100 were both up roughly half a percent, helping the Nasdaq finish higher.

Crude oil jumped $1.88 a barrel to settle at $118.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The commodity traded as high as $119.63 on fears that Hurricane Gustav will cause production outages at refineries along the Gulf Coast. British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell both said they were evacuating some employees from offshore Gulf rigs. Oil inventories data for the week ending Aug. 22 was bullish for the commodity. The report showed a 100,000 barrel drop in crude reserves; analysts had expected a build of 1.5 million barrels.

Thursday's session will see weekly unemployment claims data along with a preliminary Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading for the second quarter.