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 All three major indexes also ended the week with slight gains,
bouncing back from losses earlier in the week set off by worries
over a slowdown in China and a yuan devaluation.
Gains in shares of retailers helped buoy the market. Nordstrom
<JWN.N> and J.C. Penney <JCP.N> both rose after the department store
chains posted better-than-expected quarterly results.
Stocks hit session highs late in the session after Belgium's Finance
Minister told Reuters in Brussels that euro zone finance ministers
had agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding drafted by institutional
negotiators, "with some additional measures."
U.S. producer prices rose for a third straight month in July,
suggesting the drag on inflation from weaker oil prices was easing,
while industrial output advanced at its strongest pace in eight
months.
Though the Chinese currency devaluation added some uncertainty to
the outlook for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike, most traders
and economists are still expecting a September increase.
That kept the market from breaking out of its trading range, said
Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush
Securities in Los Angeles.
"I think the bulls are nervous and bears are hoping for a big market
decline once the Fed does finally hike rates," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 69.15 points, or 0.4
percent, to 17,477.4, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 8.15 points,
or 0.39 percent, to 2,091.54.
The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC>, which swung 167 points from its low
this week to its high, added 14.68 points, or 0.29 percent, to
5,048.24.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.7
percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.1 percent.
The day's economic data followed strong employment and retail sales
data for July on Thursday, which overall suggested the third quarter
was off to a healthy start.
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Nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors ended higher.
Energy shares dipped in afternoon trade and the energy index <.SPNY>
ended down 0.2 percent. Still, the energy index rose 3.2 percent for
the week, its biggest gain since March.
J.C. Penney rose 5.6 percent at $8.52, Nordstrom jumped 4.3 percent
to $78.13 and was among the biggest percentage gainers in the S&P
500, while the S&P retail index <.SPXRT> rose 0.4 percent.
Restaurant operator El Pollo Loco <LOCO.O> fell 20.7 percent to
$14.56, below its IPO price, after weak quarterly results.
Sysco <SYY.N> rose 7.4 percent to $41.38 after Nelson Peltz reported
a 7-percent stake in the food distributor and said he would seek
representation on the company's board.
NYSE advancers outnumbered decliners 2,072 to 962; on the Nasdaq,
1,697 issues rose and 1,096 fell. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week
highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 62 new highs and 101 new
lows.
About 5.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the
7.1 billion daily average for the month to date, according to BATS
Global Markets.
(Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Nick Zieminski)
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