Stocks Finish Strong Month With Modest Gains

February 26, 2010 4:46 p.m. EST

Topics: market and exchange, economy, business and finance, securities, United States

Mitchell Jaworski - AHN Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) - U.S. markets finished their best month since November with modest gains Friday as strong GDP data offset a worse than expected loss at insurance giant AIG.

Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department said its second reading of fourth quarter GDP increased to 5.9 percent, which was roughly in-line with estimates. The agency's initial reading pegged growth at 5.7 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial average traded around the flat line most of the session as volume was light with most of Wall Street at home due to weather conditions in the Northeast. The average finished the session up 4 points or 0.4 percent.

For the month, the Dow Industrials is up 2.5 percent, its best finish since November. Bank of America was the best Dow performer for the month, adding 11 percent.

The S&P 500 closed Friday about 2 points higher, finishing the month with a 2.7 percent gain. The consumer discretionary sector helped drive the index, up 5.2 percent in February.

Tech generally outperformed in February with the Nasdaq Composite finishing its month with a 4 point gain Friday to end the month 4 percent higher.

Autodesk (NSDQ: ADSK) and Intuit (NSDQ: INTU) were the best Nasdaq performers in February, adding 17 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

In corporate news, American International Group (NYSE: AIG) reported a fourth quarter loss that was wider than expected. However the $8.87 billion loss was smaller than $61.7 billion lost in the same period the year prior.

The insurer said a large chunk of the loss was from paying back the New York Federal Reserve $6.2 billion. AIG has continued to pay off bailout money and is in the works to sell off its American Life Insurance Company to raise additional cash.

On the economic front, the Institute of Supply Management said its Purchasing Managers Index climbed to 62.6 in February, surprising to the upside as economists expected a decline in activity to 59.7.

The National Association of Realtors said existing homes sale dipped 7.2 percent in January to an annual pace of 5.05 million homes. The result was short of expectations as economists expected 5.15 million.

Monday's market will see the release of personal spending, construction spending and personal income for January.

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