Stocks rose on Friday, a day after a sharp sell-off, as investors welcomed a lower-than-expected drop in wholesale prices and soaring industrial output indicated healthy economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.17, or 0.5 percent, to 10,558.00, making back near half the 111.95 it lost Thursday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 7.07, or 0.6 percent, at 1,184.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 17.35, or 0.8 percent, to 2,087.91.
Even though Wall Street ended the week on a positive note, the major indexes declined for the second straight week.
Among local companies, Diodes Inc. gained 5.7 percent to $22.73. That was after Stanford Group Co. said the Westlake Village-based semiconductor maker’s fourth-quarter earnings update released Thursday is in line with their expectations. And CE Unterberg Towbin maintained their “market perform” rating for Diodes, set on Dec. 7. On Thursday, Diodes announced it expects that fourth-quarter revenue will be about 3 percent below third-quarter levels of $49 and that that quarterly net income will be similar to the 33.9 percent reported in the third quarter.
And Youbet.com Inc.’s stock rose 4.2 percent to $4.69 after the Woodland Hills-based online wagering company withdrew its proposal to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of American Wagering Inc. for $12 million. Youbet was paid $75,000 to withdraw its bid for the bankrupt company. As a result, Youbet will record a one-time charge of $275,000 in its fourth-quarter period, which ended on Dec. 31.
On the down side, Flamemaster Corp. dropped 9.7 percent to $8.03 after the Sun Valley-based coatings and sealants maker declared a quarterly cash dividend of .034 cents to shareholders, a 4 percent increase from the level of the previous quarter, after adjusting for the recent stock split. The dividend will be paid on March 10.
And shares of Thousand Oaks-based biotech firm Amgen Inc. dipped 0.1 percent to $63.81 after it sent a letter warning health professionals that its anemia drug Aranesp can cause cardiovascular problems when used in high doses.
