Brands Rise

Stocks stepped up today on Wall Street. Brands such as WPX Energy, Chesapeake Energy, and Noble Energy led the S&P 500 within a few points of another all-time record level. Stocks climbed amid news of decreasing jobless claims. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 332,000 last week, from an upwardly revised 342,000 two weeks ago. In other news, producer prices ramped up in February. The Producer Price Index showed a 0.7% uptick for last month, which was slightly below forecast, but well beyond January’s 0.2% increase. On another note, crude oil futures tacked on 51 cents today to settle at $93.03 a barrel.

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