NEW YORK-It took a while, but the Dow Jones industrial average finally gained back all its losses for the month. On a day of conflicting signals, as investors weighed disappointing economic news against reports of higher profits at big companies, stocks inched higher.
All three major indexes were up yesterday, though barely. The Dow climbed 24.69 points to 13,228.31, a tiny 0.2 per cent gain. That was enough to push the index into the black for April. It's now 16 points higher than where it began the month.
The Standard & Poor's 500 edged up 3.38 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 1,403.36. The Nasdaq composite rose 18.59 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 3,069.20. The stock gains yesterday came despite a government report earlier in the day that the US economy grew at annual rate of 2.2 per cent, below the 2.5 per cent that economist had expected. It grew at a faster rate, three per cent, in the final three months of 2011.
European stock markets also rose as investors shrugged off a second downgrade this year by S&P of Spain's debt. Spain also reported its unemployment rate rose to nearly 25 per cent, its highest in 18 years. Spain's IBEX rose 1.7 per cent, France's CAC-40 1.1 per cent and the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 per cent at 5,777.
AP
