Wall Street ends higher on better economic data

In the US market, broad-based buying sent stocks to their best levels in more than two years. Successful bond auction in Europe and the Fed's beige book indicating improving economic conditions in US boosted the indices.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.72% or 83.56 points at 11755.44. Nasdaq Composite rose 0.75% or 20.5 points at 2737.33. Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.9% or 11.48 points at 1285.96. In economic data in US, the Fed's latest beige book indicated that conditions were better in manufacturing, retail, and non-financial services than they were in financial services or real estate, which remained weak. Labour markets were said to be firming somewhat in most districts. Applications for US home mortgages also rose 2.2% for the week ended January 7, to the highest level in a month. In the economic data to watch today, the US producer price index for December is expected to come unchanged at 0.8%.  Meanwhile the initial weekly jobless claims are expected to be at 405,000. Elsewhere, the Bank of England & the European Central Bank are going to announce their monetary policies today with regard to the monthly interest rates. In the currency space- the euro rose against the dollar for the third straight day. Rising risk appetite boosted the euro, which climbed above 1.31 and broke above its 200-day moving average. The dollar index meanwhile remained steady around the 80 mark. In commodities- crude continued to gain. Production shutdowns, falling US inventories and growing demand sent oil to multi-year highs and closer to the USD 100 a barrel mark.