| Stocks Log 3-Day Rally |
| Jan-22-2013 |
| Keywords: stocks, higher, research in motion, earnings, dell, microsoft |
Stocks opened the holiday-shortened week with solid gains on Wall Street, both the Dow and S&P 500 closing at more than 5-year highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 62.5 points on the day. The Nasdaq Composite rose 8 points. The S&P 500 finished up 7 points.
Both the Dow and S&P were pushed to more than five year highs on strength in the materials sector and mostly good news on corporate profits.
Alcoa, DuPont, Travelers and UnitedHealth Group led advancers on the Dow, all gaining more than 2% on the day. DuPont, Travelers and Johnson & Johnson topped quarterly earnings targets. However J&J's stock finished in negative territory after forecasting a weaker than expected full-year earnings outlook. Verizon's stock finished up .94% despite missing earnings targets by 13 cents a share.
Research in Motion provided a significant boost the technology sector. Rim's stock price jumped nearly 13% to close at a 52-week high of $17.90. Investors today reacted to remarks by CEO Thorsten Heins in an interview with Germany's Die Welt that suggested possible exit strategies, including the sale of its handset unit or a licensing deal of its Blackberry 10 operating system to competitors.
Dell's stock gained 2% on reports Microsoft may be willing to pony up somewhere between $1 and $3 billion to fund the buyout of Dell.
On the economic front, the market shrugged off a surprise 1% decline in existing home sales during the month of December.
"Record low mortgage interest rates clearly are helping many home buyers, but tight inventory and restrictive mortgage underwriting standards are limiting sales," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.
There was however some good news in the report. Existing home sales in December 2012 are up 12.8% compared to a year ago, and median sales prices rose 11.5%.
Oil prices finished the session sharply higher. The February crude oil contract expired with a 68 cent gain to close at $96.24 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline jumped 1.2% to $2.83 a gallon. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 11:00 AM Email to a friend |
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