Stocks rose modestly as U.S. and global data cast a more favorable light on the global economy. Demand for durable goods jumped 9.9% in September, pending-home sales rose 0.3% in September, stabilizing following a sharp decline the prior month. Initial jobless claims fell more than expected last week, to 369,000. Also, European officials were expected to push ahead with plans to give Greece more time to meet its budget goals, however late afternoon Standard and Poor's downgraded three French banks including BNP Paribas, citing increased economic risks. Also, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the nation’s factory output should increase at a more rapid pace in the final quarter, while a preliminary report from the U.K. showed that Q3 GDP grew 1% from the prior period, the largest such rise in five years. Procter & Gamble was the top gainer in the Dow, rallying 2.9% after the co. reported results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 that exceeded estimates. Tech stocks closed mostly in the red with Apple losing 1.2% ahead of earnings report. Zynga climbed 12.3% a day after the third-quarter results that included plans for a $200 million stock buyback and a deal with bwin.party that will have Zynga offering real-money games in the United Kingdom. Angie’s List surged 27.2% in the wake of better-than-expected third quarter results. Facebook shed 2.9% after Mail.ru Group said it had cut its stake in Facebook to 0.75% from the 1.34%. In the evening trade, Apple shed 0.2%, trading below $600, after the co. posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $8.67 a share, below $8.75 a share estimated. The results reflected slower sales of the iPhone and iPad ahead of major product revisions. Apple also projected fiscal first-quarter earnings of $11.75 a share on revenue of $52 billion, wll below $15.41 a share on revenue of $55 billion expected. Amazon also was off 0.9% after the co. said it swung to a third-quarter loss of $0.60 a share on revenue of $13.81 billion, excluding $0.37 a share related to losses from its investment in LivingSocial, Amazon would have lost $0.23 a share, while analysts estimated a loss of $0.07 a share. The co. also issued fourth-quarter sales forecast below estimates.
