On Wednesday, markets ended marginally higher and major indices enjoyed record two-year highs. Primarily led by financial stocks and positive economic data, benchmarks ended on the winning side on a trading day with light volumes. As markets near the end of the year, it is to be seen if investor’s carry the optimism to the next year.
 
Investors gained some momentum from positive economic data coming from the Commerce Department. The department announced that the third quarter domestic product was revised to an annualized rate of 2.6%. It inched a percentage higher from previous estimates, but nonetheless fell short of economic estimates of 2.8%. But investors looked into the positive side and awaited the possibility of future growth.
 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.23% to end at 11,559.49. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.34% to close at 1,258.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.15% to 2,671.48. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 6.3% to 15.45, its lowest closing since July 2007. On the New York Stock Exchange, breadth was positively biased as 1,838 stocks advanced and 1,163 stocks ended in the red while volume was on the lighter side.
 
On the sectoral front, financial stocks primarily led the indices upward movement. Overcoming the trend of shedding points, which had been the case on most occasions during the year, financial stocks surged ahead. Key stocks such as JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) jumped 2.8% to close at $42.16, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) rose 3.1% to $13.38. Regional banks also gained, such as Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) surged 7.1% and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) rose 2.9% to end in the green.
 
On the technology counter, shares of Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) were up 0.3% after its purchase of medical archiving company InSite One. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 0.4% on news that it was working on a version of its windows operating systems for devices that also includes tablet computers. Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) slipped 2.5% after the announcement of quarterly results which were in line with expectations.
 

Coming to some individual stocks, Nike (NYSE:NKE) registered a cut of 5.7% after the company’s future order figures came in below the expectations of analysts. The company also hinted at a price rise of some items that would offset the rise in prices of cotton, labour and transport. Pharmacy chain company Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) gained 5.5% after reporting a better-than-expected result. Profits of WAG increased primarily due to rise in prescription sales and cost control by a slower pace of store openings.

 
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REGIONS FINL CP (RF): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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