U.S. stocks erased early losses to close mildly higher Tuesday, as investors digested the country' s revised economic growth for the third quarter of 2015 amid geopolitical tension.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 19.51 points, or 0. 11 percent, to 17,812.19. The S&P 500 gained 2.55 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,089.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.33 point, or 0.01 percent, to 5,102.81. U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the third quarter, lower than a growth of 3. 9 percent in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
The growth was generally in line with market expectations. This is the agency's second estimate for the GDP growth in the third quarter, compared to a 1.5-percent advance estimate. "Stronger growth but a weaker mix, with the biggest changes in inventories, revised up, and consumption, revised down. GDP growth on a year-on-year basis was revised from 2.0 percent to 2.2 percent, putting it right in the middle of the range for annual growth since 2010," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.
"From the Fed's perspective, the revision doesn't mean much. It's strong enough to allow a rate hike, but not strong enough to demand one." Meanwhile, U.S. consumer confidence declined further in November. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 90.4 in November, down from 99.1 in October and well below market consensus of 99.6. Wall Street was also assessing the impacts of Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet.
Tension between Turkey and Russia has escalated after Turkish war jets shot down a Russian military aircraft on border with Syria earlier Tuesday. Overseas, European equities ended sharply lower Tuesday after the Russian jet was shot down by Turkey, with Germany's benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange falling 1.43 percent. In Asia, Chinese shares rebounded modestly amid shrinking turnover Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going up 0.16 percent to end at 3,616.11 points.
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