Major Averages Close Higher Following Late-Day Strength

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction throughout much of the session, stocks moved to the upside in the latter part of the trading day on Friday. The late-day strength partly offset the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions.

Railroad stocks showed a strong move to the upside on the day after coming under pressure along with the broader markets in the two previous sessions. The Dow Jones Railroads Index surged up by 1.8 percent to a new record closing high.

Kansas City Southern (KSU) helped lead the railroad sector higher, jumping by 4.6 percent after Bank of America raised its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral.

Notable strength also emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Applied Materials (AMAT) posted a standout gain after swinging to a profit in the second quarter.

Retail, computer hardware, and tobacco stocks also saw some strength on the day, while most of the other major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves.

The major averages ended the day moderately higher, near their highs for the session. The Dow rose 44.50 points or 0.3 percent to 16,491.31, the Nasdaq climbed 21.30 points or 0.5 percent to 4,090.59 and the S&P 500 advanced 7.01 points or 0.4 percent to 1,877.86.