US stocks gain on Greenspan's positive remarks

Wall Street stocks advanced Wednesday as investors welcome Alan Greenspan's assessment of US economy, and the solid earnings reports also supported the market.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 42.59 points, or 0.40 percent, to 10,689.15 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 5.85 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,235.20 points. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.39 points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,188.57 points.The Nasdaq composite index and the Standard & Poor's 500 hit new four-year highs.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greespan told Congress that the nation's economy was largely upbeat, although he listed three threats, such as wage pressures, surging energy costs and bearish housing market.

In corporate news, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Ltd, (Cnooc) fell 5 cents to 60.00 dollars, Unocal Corp. shed 3 cents to 64.96 dollars , but Chevron Corp. rose 30 cents to 57.60 dollars. A media report said Unocal's board had rejected Cnooc's takeover offer as too politically risky and accepted Chevron's sweetened offer instead.

Intel Corp. fell 1.27 dollars to 27.44 dollars, Eastman Kodak Co. declined 64 cents to 28.10 dollars, and General Motors Corp. shed 25 cents to 36.58 dollars.

Other decliners included JPMorgan Chase & Co., which lost 5 cents to 35.16 dollars, and Pfizer Inc. dropped 32 cents to 27.06 dollars.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE, and the about 1.56 billion shares changed hands.

However, Greespans's speech failed to boost the US currency. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.2148 dollars from 1.2033 and the British pound climbed to 1.7407 dollars from 1.7400 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 112.73 yen from 112.68 late Tuesday, but fell to 1.2861 Swiss francs from 1.2984 late Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua