Rising consumer spending boosted stocks on Friday, and Wall Street closed its best first quarter since 1998.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.22 points to close at 13,212.04. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.19 points to close at 1,408.47. The Nasdaq composite barely moved, falling 3.79 points to close at 3,091.57.
For the quarter, the Dow posted an 8 percent gain and the S&P a 12 percent gain, the best for those indexes in 14 years. The gain was 19 percent for the Nasdaq, its best since 1991.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose in February at the fastest rate in seven months. Strong hiring over the past three months has added up to the best jobs growth in two years, putting more people back to work.
Americans spent more even though their income has stagnated for two months after taxes and inflation. Some of the increased spending has gone to gasoline, which is the most expensive on record for this time of year.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision by this summer on the Affordable Care Act.$512: Average savings in 2011 for the 185,014 Medicare-covered Ohioans under a provision of the health care law establishing a 50 percent discount on certain brand-name prescription drugs.
UnitedHealthcare left in 2010, had a market value of $59 million in 2006, a year in which real estate values neared their peak. But after Hartford’s 2011 revaluation, the city slapped an $18.6 million valuation on the complex’s 556,259 square office foot towers that overlook the Connecticut River.