Market Wrap for Thursday, August 29, 2013: Syria and U.S. GDP Driving the Rally

Market optimism is on the raise again. U.S. Economic activities showed significant improvements in a second-quarter and with Syria placed on a backburner, global markets gained confidence. Major Movers The Dow Johns Industrial Average climbed +16.44 points, or percent +0.11 closing at 14,840.95 . S&P 500 rose +3.21 points, or +0.20 percent ending at 1,638.17. NASDAQ Composite was up +26.95 points, or +0.75 percent to 3,620.30. Economics U.S. is heading toward economic growth and recovery as is seen by the data released on Thursday. Second-quarter real GDP climbed to 2.5 percent, a substantial increase from the revised estimate of 1.7. On an employment front, Jobless claims declined to -6K in August 24 week, whereas last week's claims were at 13k. The reduced unemployment applications do not necessarily point to increased hiring though. Eurozone Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.8% to 300.13 FTSE 100 index also rose 0.8% closing at 6,483.05 For the first day this week Benzinga markets are gaining. U.S. military actions against Syria seems to be subsiding; in an interview on Thursday, President Baraka Obama stated that final decision has not been made on Syria. In U.K., politicians and public strongly oppose the Prime Minister, David Cameron in his argument to get directly involved in Syria. British parliament is still to decide next week on the issue. In addition to reduced fears on Syria, news of a potential deal by Verizon Communications Inc. to buy back its forty five percent stake from Vodafone Group PLC have especially helped European markets to advance on Thursday. Commodities href="Oil http://www.benzinga.com/news/13/08/3873594/brent-expected-to-skyrocket-if-military-attacks-are-carried-out">Benzinga prices are cooling down as Syria is out of the picture for now and on the fact that there is an excess supply of three million barrels for the week. Crude Oil at WTI was down by -1.15 percent to 108.83 , while Brent declined by -1.45 at 115.16. Gold erased -0.76 percent ending at $1,408.00, Silver headed the same direction as gold losing -2.05 percent to 23.89. Bonds The iShares Barclays 20+Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT up by + 0.78 percent to close at 106.09 Treasury yields are mixed: 5-year yield increased by +0.01 points to 1.60 percent, 10-year is down by -0.03 points to yield 2.75 percent, and 30-year also declined by -0.05 points to 3.70 percent. Currencies EUR/USD was -0.72 closing at 1.3242, GBP/USD has also declined by -0.12 percent ending at 1.5507 , and USD/JPY increased by +0.54 percent to 98.2165 PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the United States Dollar versus a basket of foreign currencies, was rose by 0.64 percent at 22.15. Volatility and Value VIX S&P 500 was at +1.70 percent, ending at 16.77. The volume keeps on declining; SPDR S&P 500 SPY increased by +0.18 percent to 84,209,939 consistent with the overall market gains. Stock Movers Up US Airways (NYSE: LCC) climbed +4.2 percent on possible settlement with Department of Justice in regards to a merger with American Airlines. Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) rose +8.9 percent as there are speculations the company will buy back more shares on the open market. Stock Moves Down PetroLogistics (NYSE: PDH) declined by -2.3 percent after company lowered distribution estimate to $1.59 per unit form previous $1.71 per unit