Stocks Recover After London Explosions

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Stocks recovered from steep losses to finish the session higher on Thursday, after terror attacks in London killed at least 37 people and injured more than 700.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 31.61 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 10,302.29. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged up 2.93 points, or 0.3 percent, to finish at 1,197.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.01 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 2,075.66.


Four blasts tore through packed London underground trains and a bus during rush hour on Thursday, in the British capital’s deadliest peacetime attack and disrupting the G8 summit of world leaders in Scotland.


All three indexes fell on the news, before making their way back from early morning lows, when they had been off nearly 1 percent. The Dow and the S & P; 500 hit their lowest intraday points since May 18.


Among local companies, shares of North American Scientific Inc. rose 19 percent to $2.69 after the Chatsworth-based radiation oncology products developer said it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its newest imaging device used to position and monitor patients during radiation treatment therapy for head and neck cancers.


Guess Inc. gained 12.4 percent to $19.30 after the L.A.-based apparel company said its June sales from stores open at least a year rose 11 percent, surpassing analysts’ average estimates. Total sales grew 21.6 percent to $53.8 million for the month.


And Amgen Inc. edged up 5.2 percent to $66.93 after the Thousand Oaks-based biotechnology company’s stock was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” by UBS AG analyst David Molowa, who wrote in a note that sales growth for a number of its drugs may exceed expectations.


On the down side, shares of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. sank 2.4 percent to $27.23 after the El Segundo-based sporting goods retailer’s stock was downgraded to “hold” from “buy” by analyst Jason West at Deutsche Bank. The price target was set at $30 per share.

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