U.S. stocks staged a rally on the heels of news from Europe that the central bank there would deploy stimulus policies while better-than-expected profits from companies such as eBay Inc. buoyed investor sentiment.
Retail stocks closed higher, but underperformed against other sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 320 points, or 1.9 percent, at the bell to 17,489 while the S&P 500 finished with a 1.7 percent gain to 2,052. The Nasdaq also rose 1.7 percent to 4,920. But the retail sector didn’t gain as much as the S&P 500 Retailing Industry Group Index closed with a 0.9 percent increase to 1,238.
Most of the gains in the retail, fashion apparel, beauty, luxury and related segments showed gains of between 0.3 percent and 2 percent. Some notable increases were Elizabeth Arden Inc. with a 6.3 percent gain at the bell to $12.95. Shares of Cherokee Inc. rose 4.2 percent to $19.30 while Inter Parfums Inc. closed up 6.3 percent to $26.53.
Some of the notable decliners included Chico’s FAS Inc., which shed 3.1 percent to finish at $14. Under Armour Inc., which reported results today, fell 5.5 percent to $93.75. And Men’s Wearhouse Inc. lost 4.4 percent to $38.89.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 closed up 0.4 percent to 6,376 while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 2.3 percent to finish at 4,802. Frankfurt’s DAX closed the day with a 2.5 percent gain to 10,492. Earlier, the Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 0.6 percent to 18,436 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong also shed 0.6 percent to 22,845. The Shanghai Index in China closed up 1.5 percent to 3,369.