Stocks Closes Modestly Higher

U.S. stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, as investors appeared to shrug off softer economic
data, including jobless claims and existing-home sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10.02
points, or 0.06%, to 16,543.08. The S&P 500 added 4.46 points, or 0.24%, to 1,892.49. The Nasdaq
Composite was up 22.80 points, or 0.55%, at 4,154.34.

Existing-home sales inched up 1.3% on an adjusted basis in April, reaching an annual pace of 4.65
million, but were 6.8% below the April 2013 rate of 4.99 million, according to the National Association
of Realtors (NAR). It was the first month this year that existing-home sales trended upward.

Hewlett-Packard Co posted a bigger-than-expected 1 percent drop in quarterly revenue. The company
reported non-GAAP diluted net earnings 88 cents a share, up 1 percent from a year earlier and about
level with what analysts, on average, had expected.

GameStop (GME) is surging after hours after reporting first quarter profit of $0.59 per share, topping
expectations for $0.57. GameStop reported first quarter sales grew 7% to $2 billion, just shy of the
$2.03 billion analysts had been expecting. On a comparable store basis, sales grew 5.8% during the
quarter.

Gap Inc reported a 22 percent fall in quarterly profit hurt by weak demand for its Gap and Banana
Republic apparel brands. Net income fell to $260 million, or 58 cents per share, for the first-quarter
ended May 3 from $333 million, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier.

The United States is at risk of becoming a nation of renters because of the “totally unnecessary”
constraints that continue prevent lenders from giving out mortgages, former Wells Fargo (WFC) chairman and CEO Richard Kovacevich told CNBC on Thursday.