Stocks rose on positive economic reports. Weekly jobless claims rose to 367,000, below the 370,000 claims projected. Factory orders also came in better than expected, falling 5.2% in August versus estimates calling for a 5.9% drop. Hewlett-Packard rebounded 0.20%, after falling earlier as investors reacted to the company’s grim forecast for fiscal 2013 and comments by Chief Executive Meg Whitman that it will take time to fix the co.’s problems. eBay gained 1.85 after Nomura Securities upgraded the stock to a buy rating, citing the co.’s growing PayPal business. Facebook added 0.54% after the co. announced that it now has 1 billion active monthly users. MetroPCS recovered from early losses and gained 3.68% after Nomura Securities downgraded the stock to a “reduce,” or sell, rating. After the closing bell Zynga sank 19% after co. cut its full-year outlook and said it wrote down a portion of a recent acquisition. Facebook, which features games made by Zynga, also fell 1.8% in late trading.
