Stocks Close Higher, Amazon Revenue Matches Expectations

U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday, buoyed by encouraging data on the U.S. labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial  Average closed up 24.50 points, or 0.17%, at 14,700.80. The S&P 500 index gained 6.37 points, or 0.40%, to 1,585.16
and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 20.34 points, or 0.62%, to 3,289.99.

Amazon.com (AMZN) ‘s first-quarter revenue jumped 22% to $16.07 billion, propelled by growing sales of digital  content, cloud-computing services and gains in its main retail business. The world’s largest Internet retailer had  been expected to record revenue of $16.1 billion in the typically slower first quarter, according to average  forecasts on Wall Street.

Starbucks (SBUX) late Thursday raised its fiscal 2013 profit outlook. For its September 2013 fiscal year, Starbucks  said it would earn between $2.12 to $2.18 a share. Its old forecast was $2.06 to $2.15 a share. However, Starbucks  maintained its outlook for margin improvement, revenue and same-store sales growth.

Engineering company KBR Inc reported on Thursday a small decline in quarterly earnings and improved profit margins.  KBR said it made a first-quarter profit of $88 million, or 59 cents per share, down from $91 million, or 61 cents  per share, a year before. Revenue fell 7 percent to $1.86 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.92  billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

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