End of the Day: S&P 500 up 2.1 to 2,000.02; Dow Jones up 29.8 to 17,106.70; Nasdaq up 13.3 to 4,570.64
* New orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased $55.3 billion or 22.6 percent to $300.1 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. (The Street was looking for a gain of just 8 percent.) This increase, up five of the last six months, was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992, and followed a 2.7 percent June increase. Excluding