U.S. Indexes Nearing Best Yearly Gains in a Decade

Nichole Harper
25 Oct, 2013
New York City

U.S. stocks maintained a positive bias in trading after durable goods orders rose more than expected on military purchases but consumer sentiment index declined Twitter sets $10 billion valuation for its public offering.

[R]11:00 AM New York – U.S. stocks maintained a positive bias in trading after durable goods orders rose more than expected on military purchases but consumer sentiment index declined Twitter sets $10 billion valuation for its public offering.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street opened higher and market indexes gained after durable goods orders were ahead of expectations and consumer confidence index dropped to a 10-month low.

S&P 500 index increased 0.1% to 1,754.12 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 17.5 to 3,946.50.

Consumer sentiment index for October declined to 73.2 from 77.5 in prior month, according to Reuters/University of Michigan survey released today.

Twitter Sets $10 Billion Valuation

Twitter said in a regulatory filing that it plans to raise as much as $1.61 billion through the sale of 70 million and 80.5 million shares priced between $17 and $20 each.

The short-messaging site has 544.7 million shares outstanding that values the company at $10.8 billion when priced on the mid-point of the offering price range at $18.50.

When 150 million shares counted related to options outstanding, restricted stock units and stocks issued for the purchase of mobile advertising firm MoPub, the valuation jumps to $13 billion.

U.S. Durable Goods Orders Rise

U.S. durable goods orders increased the most in three months in September on rising demand for military and commercial equipment offsetting the weakness in business equipment.

Durable goods orders increased 3.7% but declined 0.1% when transportation equipment were excluded.

Orders declined 1.1% when military orders were not counted suggesting that businesses may have scaled back investment plans as the government shutdown and political impasse in Washington may have delayed decision making.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Amazon.com Inc ((AMZN)) soared nearly 10% to a record high of $364.01 after it reported better than expected sales growth and smaller losses.

Microsoft Corp ((MSFT)) jumped 6% to $35.95 after the software developer reported rising enterprise sales.

UPS ((UPS)) gained 0.5% to $95.85 after the largest package delivery services provider reported better than expected earnings and said domestic parcel price per shipment increased 1% and volume rose 2.3%.

Zynga Inc ((ZYNG)) soared 11% to $3.87 after the social-networking games developer reported smaller than expected losses on rising sale of virtual assets.