Stock Market Today: Stocks Zip Higher on Robust Retail Sales, Earnings
Most investors will be walking into this weekend with a spring in their step. They can thank booming retail sales and continued earnings momentum, which set up a fine Friday finish for the equity markets.
Headline retail sales unexpectedly grew for the second consecutive month, with September's figure up 0.7% month-over-month to exceed expectations for a 0.2% decline. And similarly to August, September's sales were boosted in categories including clothing, groceries, general merchandise, non-store retail and miscellaneous.
