US stocks overcame disappointing economic data on Thursday and ended the day in positive territory, while a dazzling market launch by LinkedIn revived dreams of another dot-com boom. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.14 points (0.36 percent) to close at 12,605.32. The broader S&P 500 edged up 2.92 points (0.22 percent) to 1,343.60, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 8.31 points (0.30 percent) to 2,823.31.
Overall trade was lacklustre after a batch of glum economic data. There was more grim news on the depressed housing market, where existing-home sales fell in April, and a sharp drop in the Fed's Philadelphia regional manufacturing index. The Conference Board's leading economic indicators index also fell for the first time since June 2010. A slight fall in weekly jobless claims offered a sliver of good news, but claims remained stuck above the 400,000 threshold.
"The bulls are showing some resiliency," Charles Schwab analysts said in a client note. But LinkedIn rang more than the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, with its shares more than doubling after its initial public offering (IPO). Shares in the career-focused social-networking firm, trading under the stock ticker LNKD, skyrocketed 109.4 percent to $94.25. The launch price was $45 per share. "It's just really good timing, when everybody's paying attention to technology in a new light," said Cantor Fitzgerald US market analyst Marc Pado.
LinkedIn, the first major social-network firm to go public, had the most valuable US Internet IPO since Google became a publicly traded company in 2004, according to research firm Renaissance Capital, which specializes in newly public companies. The showing by LinkedIn could "pave the way for other social networking firms to take the IPO plunge," Renaissance maintained. "There is one takeaway that some other billionaires are going to consider - the value of Facebook just went up on a relative basis," said Jon Ogg at 24/7WallStreet.com.
Internet pioneer Yahoo leaped 2.4 percent to $16.35, while Google edged up 0.3 percent to $531.25. Dow component Intel was the blue chip index's sharpest decliner. The computer-chip maker slid 1.4 percent to $23.54. The market action came after Wednesday's solid gains on the back of surging commodity prices and better-than expected earnings from computer maker Dell.
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