By DPA,
New York : Wall Street rallied Thursday after the US Commerce Department raised its estimate of first-quarter economic growth.
Last month’s initial estimate of 0.6 percent annualised growth in gross domestic product for the first three months of 2008 was revised upward to 0.9 percent for the January-March period.
“We didn’t have negative growth in the fourth quarter, and it looks like we didn’t in the first quarter,” Brian Gendreau, an investment strategist at ING Investment Management, told the Bloomberg financial news agency. “Growth is going to pick up in the second half of the year. We’re running out of time to have a recession.”
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 52.19 points, or 0.41 percent, to 12,646.22. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 7.42 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,398.26. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index leapt 21.62 points, or 0.87 percent, to 2,508.32.
The US currency climbed against the euro to 64.504 euro cents from 63.93 euro cents Wednesday. The dollar surged against the Japanese currency to 105.57 yen from 104.74 yen Wednesday.