Markets
Banks power US stocks higher ahead of holiday
NEW YORK : US stocks closed higher Friday helped by strong gains in the banking and finance shares on the last day of N
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 38.97 points (0.31 percent) at 12,441.73 in closing trade.
The broader S&P 500 added 5.42 (0.41 percent) to 1,331.11, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 13.94 points (0.50 percent) at 2,796.86.
The Dow was powered by a 2.3 percent surge in Bank of America shares and a 2.0 percent jump by Johnson & Johnson.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011