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NEW YORK, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks continue to rally Wednesday, with the Nasdaq closing at a record high for seven consecutive sessions, as investors meditated on a slew of generally positive economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 107.45 points, or 0.52 percent, to 20,611.86. The S&P 500 added 11.67 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,349.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 36.87 points, or 0.64 percent, to 5,819.44.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased 0.6 percent in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, beating market consensus of 0.3 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.
Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.5 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The Commerce Department announced Wednesday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2017 came in at 472.1 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month and above market estimates of 0.1 percent.
Business activity expanded at a solid clip in New York State, according to firms responding to the February 2017 Empire State Manufacturing Survey Wednesday. The headline general business conditions index rose 12 points to 18.7, its highest level in more than two years.
Meanwhile, following a 0.6 percent increase in December, U.S. industrial production decreased 0.3 percent in January, missing market expectations, said the Federal Reserve Wednesday.
"Overall, a strong morning for U.S. economic data. The widespread increases in consumption were the highlights of the morning, showing consumers remain upbeat at the start of 2017," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial.
Investors were also encouraged by remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump. He continued to tout his economic agenda in a meeting with retail CEOs Wednesday.
He said the administration remains "focused on the issues that will bring economic growth. That's what we're all about," according to the CNBC.
