July 3rd, 2012

S&P 500 Futures – U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an almost two-month high, as a report showing factory orders exceeded forecasts bolstered optimism in growth at the world’s largest economy.

Commodity, industrial and technology shares had the biggest gains among 10 S&P 500 groups. Alcoa Inc. (AA), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) added at least 1 percent. Ford Motor Co. (F) rallied 3 percent as deliveries of cars and light trucks beat estimates. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell 0.5 percent as it’s taking a $6.2 billion writedown for almost the entire amount it paid for Internet- advertising company AQuantive Inc.

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