March 20, 2014- Stocks Close Higher on US Factory Orders

After moving to the downside in early trading on Thursday, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the session. The turnaround came as some upbeat economic data offset concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains. The Dow is up 63.42 points or 0.4 percent at 16,285.59, the Nasdaq is up 8.26 points or 0.2 percent at 4,315.86 and the S&P 500 is up 5.71 points or 0.3 percent at 1,866.48. While concerns about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates sooner than anticipated generated initial selling pressure, traders reacted positively to the release of a batch of U.S. economic data not long after the open. The data included a report from the Conference Board showing a bigger than expected increased by its index of leading economic indicators. The report said the leading economic index rose by 0.5 percent in February after edging up by 0.1 percent in January. Economists had expected the index to rise by 0.3 percent.