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Stocks Rise After Consumer, Manufacturing Data

U.S. Market
Stocks rose this morning as investors weighed new economic data. The Nasdaq Composite rose over the 5,000 level for the first time since 2000.

Consumer spending fell 0.2% in January from the previous month, more than the 0.1% expected by economists. The decline was driven by a 2.2% decline in non-durable good purchases and a 0.1% fall in durable good purchase. Services spending rose 0.5%. Incomes rose 0.3% in the month. The report also showed inflation remained under control as price levels fell 0.2% year-over-year. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, prices were up 1.3% from 2014 levels.

The closely watched ISM manufacturing index fell again in February. The reading of 52.9 was down from 53.5 in January but slightly above analyst expectations. Any reading over 50 indicates expansion in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

At midday the Dow and Nasdaq were each up 0.7% while the S&P 500 was up 0.4%.

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Stocks on the Move
Shares of HP (HPQ) were little changed this morning after the firm confirmed rumors that it would buy wireless-networking firm Aruba Networks (ARUN) for $2.7 billion. The firm will be folded into the HP’s enterprise group.

Costco (COST) said this morning that Citigroup (C) and Visa (V) would be its new credit-card partners. The move comes after the announcement last month that they were unable to reach an agreement with current partner American Express (AXP) . Visa and Citi shares both rose 1.7% while Costco was up 0.5%.

Foreign Markets
European markets were mixed today. The FTSE 100 was down 0.1%, the Paris CAC was off 0.7% while Germany’s DAX was up 0.1%.

Asian shares rose after a rate cut from China’s central bank this weekend and signs of improvement in the Chinese manufacturing sector. The Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 were up 0.8%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.