Stocks Closed Higher after Manufacturing Data

U.S. stocks advanced on Friday after a solid manufacturing report, finishing the week mostly up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 69.80 points, or 0.45%, to end at 15,615.55. The S&P 500 rose 5.10 points, or 0.29%, to end at 1,761.64. The Nasdaq Composite tacked on 2.33 points, or 0.06%, to close at 3,922.04. The S&P 500 and Dow both scored their fourth straight up week in a row, rising 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. The Nasdaq lost 0.5% for the week, snapping a two-week winning streak.

U.S. factories notched their fifth straight month of expansion in October. The Institute for Supply
Management on Friday said its broad index, in which any reading above 50 indicates expansion, inched up to 56.4 last month from 56.2 in September

In the first speeches since the central bank decided not to cut back the $85 billion-a-month bond buying program, Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, and James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed, disagreed on the right path for policy and the risks posed by the Fed’s record $3.8 trillion balance sheet.

Charter Communications Inc is weighing a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc before the end of the year, and working on details of a deal structure that would appeal to Time Warner Cable’s shareholders, people familiar with the matter said.

Oil futures closed below $95 a barrel on Friday with ample U.S. supplies of crude and a strong advance in the dollar contributing to a weekly price loss of more than 3%. Crude oil for December delivery fell $1.77, or 1.8%, to settle at $94.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.