Stocks Ended with Mostly Gains after Strong Results

U.S. stocks ended a holiday-shortened week with mostly gains on Thursday, as Morgan Stanley and General Electric rallied after strong results. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 16.31 points, or 0.10%, to end at 16,408.54. The S&P 500 gained 2.54 points or 0.14%, to finish at 1,864.85. The Nasdaq Composite added 9.29 points or 0.23%, to close at 4,095.52. For the week, the S&P 500 climbed 2.7%. The Dow and the Nasdaq each advanced 2.4%.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid to compel General Motors Co to tell customers to stop driving millions of cars that have been recalled for defective ignition switches.

President Obama said Thursday that a total of 8 million people signed up for health care exchange policies during the initial enrollment period that ended March 31.

An Illinois House committee endorsed a plan today to contribute $100 million in state funds toward construction of a Barack Obama presidential library in Chicago.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, the casual restaurant chain, reported an 8.5% increase in first-quarter profit that missed Wall Street expectations. Net income for the January-March period totaled $83.1 million, or $2.64 per share. That compared with $76.6 million, or $2.45 per share, for the first quarter of 2013. Revenue rose to $904.2 million, a 24.4% increase, year over year.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss of $20 million, or 3 cents a share, on $1.4 billion in revenue. During the same period a year ago, the chipmaker lost $146 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $1.09 billion. Excluding one-time items, AMD would have earned 2 cents a share.