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VOL. 37 | NO. 51 | Friday, December 20, 2013
US stocks edge higher ahead of Christmas holiday
NEW YORK (AP) — An unexpectedly large increase in orders for manufactured goods helped push stock prices higher on Wall Street.
The market was open for just half a day ahead of the Christmas holiday. Trading will remain closed on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 62 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 16,357 Tuesday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose five points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,833. The Nasdaq composite was up six points, or 0.2 percent, at 4,155.
Trading was extremely light ahead of the holiday.
Homebuilder stocks rose after the government reported that sales of new homes increased last month at a faster pace than analysts were expecting. Beazer Homes jumped 3 percent.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.99 percent.