Market Watch 2/18/10

Stock Market Closing Prices – 2/18/10

Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJIA ) Close – 10392.90 +83.66
Nasdaq Stock Market Close – 2241.71 +15.42
S&P 500 Close – 1106.75 +7.24

Commodities Closing Prices – 2/18/10

Gold Close – 1118.00 -1.15
Oil Close – 78.17 -0.89
Natural Gas – 5.12

An increase in regional manufacturing pushed the stock market to its third straight advance and offset concerns about lower sales at Wal-Mart.

Stock futures turned lower after the closing bell Thursday when the Federal Reserve announced it was hiking the interest rate that it charges banks for emergency loans.

The Fed's decision to increase the interest rate on emergency loans by one-quarter point to 0.75 percent pushed the dollar higher. Higher interest rates tend to raise the value of the dollar against other currencies. That can be bad for stocks by weakening demand for commodities like oil and metals, which is a negative for industrial companies.

Tomorrow’s report,

J.C. Penney.(Quarterly)

CPI (Consumer Price Index)