Wall Street was up in afternoon trade on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the US economy continues to grow and inflation is beginning to recede. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7 percent to 12,742.02, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4 percent to 2,492.98 and the S&P 500 was 0.8 percent higher to 1,456.36.
Mr. Bernanke’s comments especially helped homebuilders and mortgage lenders. Among homebuilders, DR Horton added 1.4 percent to $28.25 after Mr. Bernanke said that he sees indications that the housing market is beginning to stabilize. Meanwhile, among mortgage lenders, New Century Financial gained 7.6 percent to $20.01.
Manufacuturers of farm and building equipment were up after Deere issued a quarterly report showing that profits were better than expected. Deere added 9.8 percent to $112.74, while Caterpillar was 2.6 percent higher to $66.42.
Coca-Cola dropped 0.8 percent to $47.81 after it reported that profits are down. Even though profits declined, operating profits and quarterly revenue were better than had been anticipated.
Warner Music dropped 7.1 percent to $18.01 after UK rival EMI warned on profits, citing poor sales in the United States. Standard & Poor’s droped its rating outlook on the media company from “stable” to “negative”.