Stocks Up on Snow’s Remarks on China

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Stocks moved higher on Tuesday as investors welcomed moderate remarks by Treasury Secretary John Snow for Beijing to take a step toward flexibility for its yuan currency, calming fears about deterioration of trade relations between the two countries.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79.59 points, or 0.8 percent, to end the day at 10,331.88. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 8.11 points, or 0.7 percent, to finish at 1,173.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 9.72 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,004.15.


Investors reacted decisively after the Bush administration declared Tuesday afternoon that China may be using its monetary policies to unfairly affect trade. While not outright accusing China of currency manipulation, the Treasury Department said it may take that stand in the future unless the Chinese government switches to a flexible exchange system.


Among local movers, shares of Jamdat Mobile Inc. rose 12.8 percent to $27.17 after the L.A.-based wireless game publisher said it won exclusive rights to distribute the “DOOM RPG” game for mobile phones. And earlier in the day, the company announced that its “Tetris” game was given double-platinum status by Sprint, with more than two million downloads on Sprint PCS Vision phones.


And shares of video game publishers Activision Inc. and THQ Inc. rose due to stock upgrades. Activision gained 2.7 percent to $15.78 after the Santa Monica-based firm’s stock was upgraded to “strong buy” from long-term “buy” by analyst Arvind Bhatia at Southwest Securities. Bhatia also raised the stock of THQ Inc. to “strong buy” from “neutral,” causing shares of the Calabasas Hills-based company to edge up 1.9 percent to $28.67.


On the down side, shares of Tag-It Pacific, Inc. plunged 31.1 percent to $2.55 after the Woodland Hills-based apparel company said that its first-quarter loss widened to 9 cents a share from 4 cents a year ago. Tag-It also moderated its sales growth outlook for 2005. The company said it now expects growth of 25 percent for the year, down from its prior projection for growth of 40 percent.

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