Technology Companies Helped Push The US Stock Market Higher
Technology companies helped push the US stock market higher on Thursday, offsetting some of the losses from the sell-off of the previous day.
Market growth followed the release of encouraging data on how strongly the US economy has recovered over the summer.
Traders also welcomed the report, which showed that the number of new unemployed Americans applying for state support fell last week to 751,000 from 791,000 the previous week.
Expectations of Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google to show good quarterly results have also supported market growth. The S&P 500 index strengthened by 1.2 percent to 3,310.11 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index rose 0.5 percent to 26,659.11 points. The technology Nasdaq improved 1.6 percent to 11,185.59 points, and the Russell 2000 Small Business Index added 1.2 percent to close at 1,561.58 points.
However, Asian stock markets weakened on Friday as investors wait for next week's US presidential election and assess the likelihood of receiving economic stimulus in the US and Europe.
Tokyo's main Nikkei 225 index fell 1.51 percent to 22,977.13 points, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.1 percent and China's Shanghai Composite index lost 1.47 percent.