US stocks have strengthened today
The stock market sentiment was supported by the positive economic performance of some industrial companies and the report of surprisingly strong growth in retail sales in the United States.
The Dow Jones Index, which includes shares of 30 leading US corporations, gained 0.42 percent today and closed trading at 26,559.54 points. S&P 500 index increased by 0.16 percent to 2905.03 points and the Nasdaq Composite technology market index rose by 0.02 percent to 7998.06 points.
Shares of the industrial conglomerate Honeywell International also strengthened significantly. The company today announced surprisingly high earnings for the first quarter and improved its full-year outlook. The shares of the railway company Union Pacific also benefited from unexpectedly favorable quarterly results, Reuters wrote.
The US Department of Commerce today announced that retail sales in the United States increased by 1.6 percent in March, the fastest rate in one and a half years. Analysts estimated the March growth of only 0.9 percent.
