US Stocks Close Slightly Higher After Yellen Comments

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — There were small gains for Wall Street on Friday after Fed Chair Janet Yellen suggested the need for a “high-pressure” economy.

The Dow jumped 39.44 (+0.22 percent) to finish at 18,138.38.

The Nasdaq gained 0.83 (+0.02 percent) to close at 5,214.16, while the S&P 500 finished at 2,132.98, up 0.43 (+0.02 percent) from its open.

Crude oil lost less than 1 percent with prices hitting over $50 a barrel.

Federal Reserve: Although there was no mention of an interest rate hike in a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, she discussed how the U.S. central bank could best deal with the country’s slow economic growth. In Boston Friday, Yellen suggested economists should think of new ways to tackle the effects of the Great Recession, including temporarily running a “high pressure economy.”

Samsung:
The Federal Aviation Administration has banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from all flights in the U.S. after reports the smartphone and its replacement were overheating and causing fires. Samsung has received at least 96 reports of Note 7 phones overheating, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, with at least 13 people saying they were burned.

Winners and Losers: Shares of Hewlett-Packard sunk over 4 percent after the software company announced plans to cut 3,000 – 4,000 jobs.

Twitter’s stock tumbled over 5 percent after Salesforce.com said it would not buy the social media site. The cloud computing company’s shares soared 5 percent on the news.

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