Thursday, January 29, 2009

U.S. stocks rise despite weak economic data

NEW YORK, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks edged up Tuesday on some better-than-expected earnings, but pulled back from the day's high as U.S. consumer confidence hit record low.

A series of upbeat earnings results shored up the stocks in the early trading. U.S. Steel reported Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings have soared following the company's acquisition.

Meanwhile, American Express Co., the biggest U.S. credit-card company by purchases, posted a drop of 79 percent in fourth-quarter profit, which still topped the most pessimistic estimates.

But stocks gave up some of the early gains as the Conference Board, a New York-based research institution, reported a record low of U.S. consumer confidence.

January Consumer Confidence Index fell to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December, worse than the economists had expected and is the lowest level since the index began recording in 1967.

The Standard

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