Bloomberg (5/11) --- U.S. stocks rose,
after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied for four straight
weeks, as investors watched company earnings and awaited this week’s
releases on employment and economic growth.Commodity shares advanced as U.S. Steel
Corp. (X) and AK Steel Holding Corp. gained more than 4.6 percent on an
industry upgrade by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Kellogg Co. jumped 1.3
percent after announcing it will reduce its global workforce by seven
percent as part of a four-year cost-saving plan. BlackBerry (BBRY) Ltd.
tumbled 17 percent as Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. walked away from a
$4.7 billion takeover plan.The S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to
1,766.35 at 2:27 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
added 14.52 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,630.07. Trading in S&P 500
stocks was 9.2 percent below the 30-day average during this time of the
day.The equity gauge jumped 4.5 percent in
October as the Federal Reserve decided to continue $85 billion in
monthly bond purchases, and companies beat earnings forecasts. Investors
are watching data to gauge the health of the U.S. economy after the Fed
last week said it needs to see more evidence of sustained improvement
before reducing the pace of its monthly bond purchases.
