NEW YORK: U.S. stocks finished higher Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite reaching a new closing high, as fears of a Greek exit from the eurozone subsided and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen wrapped up her semiannual two-day testimony before Congress.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.26% surged 64.24 points, or 1.3%, to close at a record high of 5,163.18, supported by a jump in shares of Netflix Inc. NFLX, +18.02% which rallied 18% after the streaming-media company late Wednesday reported strong second-quarter results.
The online streaming service late Wednesday said it added a better-than-expected 3.28 million streaming subscribers in the June quarter. Read: Netflix stumbles into a potentially huge audience
The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.80% finished up 16.89 points, or 0.8%, at 2,124.29, with utilities, tech, and telecom leading gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.39% rose 70.08 points, or 0.4%, to close at 18,120.25. The Dow was being dragged lower by Goldman Sachs GS, -0.84% which reported disappointing results Thursday, while consumer staples, information technology and the health-care sectors were leading the S&P 500.
Yellen, data: Stocks rose steadily as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday, that she doesn’t want to see inflation linger below 2% and that risks lie on tightening too early or too late.
On Wednesday, Yellen repeated her intent to raise rates sometime this year because the U.S. economy is looking better.
Some of the data out Thursday may provide the Fed with more support for a hike.
