US stock market today: After the European central bank governor Mario Draghi spoke to defend the euro, the leaders of Germany and France pledged to secure the euro. The U.S. second quarter GDP data and consumer confidence index surpassed expectations. The U.S. stock market opened higher and went up, and finally the three major indexes all rose more than 1%.
The University of Michigan and Reuters jointly announced that the final U.S. consumer confidence index was 72.3 points in July; higher than economists’ average estimate of 72.0 points. The initial value of the consumer confidence index in July was 72.0 points.
The U.S. Department of Commerce published the initial value of the 2012 second quarter annualized growth rate of GDP, which was reported at 1.5%, higher than the economists on average had expected 1.3%, but less than 1.9% in the first quarter and 3% in the fourth quarter of 2011.
US stock market today gained across the board, with Healthcare sector leading the gains. As of the close of the US stock market today: The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up 187.73 points, or 1.46%, to close at 13,075.66 points; the Nasdaq composite index climbed 64.84 points, or 2.24%, to end at 2,958.09 points; the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 25.95 points, or 1.91%, to report at 1,385.97 points.