May 30, 2013- Stocks Advance Higher Still Finding Upper Trend Resistance

Stocks ended Thursday's trading mostly higher, partly offsetting the weakness that was seen in the previous session. The buying interest came as weaker than expected economic data eased concerns about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program. The major averages gave back ground going into the close but still ended the day in positive territory. The Dow edged up 21.73 points or 0.1 percent to 15,324.53, while the Nasdaq climbed 23.78 points or 0.7 percent to 3,491.30 and the S&P 500 rose 6.05 points or 0.4 percent to 1,654.41. The strength on Wall Street came on the heels of the release of a batch of economic data that was weaker than expected but was not bad enough to raise serious concerns about the economic outlook. The data helped to offset recent concerns that the Federal Reserve is planning to scale back its asset purchase program within the next few meetings. Before the start of trading, The Labor Department released a report showing that initial jobless claims climbed to 354,000 in the week ended May 25th from the previous week's revised figure of 344,000.