| Stocks Soar On Earnings & Economic Data |
| Oct-16-2012 |
| Keywords: stocks, rally, earnings, economic reports, citi, pandit |
Earnings and economic reports drive stocks 1% higher, the Dow logging its first triple digit gain in more than a month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 127-points. The Nasdaq Composite gained 37-points. The S&P 500 finished the day with a 15-point gain.
Investor optimism fueled by a number of better than expected earnings reports.
Goldman Sachs unveiled third-quarter profits of $2.85 a share on revenues of $8.35 billion, blowing by estimates of $2.12 a share on sales of $7.3 billion.
Johnson & Johnson posted third-quarter earnings of $1.25 a share, excluding special items, beating estimates by four cents. The health-care giant's revenues came in at $17.1 billion, just beating forecasts of $16.98 billion.
Newly added Dow component UnitedHealth Group reported quarterly earnings of $1.50 a share, surpassing estimates of $1.34 a share. Revenues were $27.3 billion, just missing estimates of $27.62 billion.
Intel led advancers on the blue chip index, up 2.85% ahead of its late day earnings report.
Citigroup's stock moving up more than 1.5% despite news CEO Vikram Pandit shocked the market with his resignation. Pandit is said to have been battling the banks board.
Citigroup shares have tumbled some 89% during Pandit's time at the helm, which coincided with the global financial crisis.
Apple getting its legs back, up more than 2% on news is schedule its next media event for October 23rd, expected to be the unveiling of its I-Pad mini.
The market also digested a number of economic reports out today.
Retail inflation last month remained subdued. Consumer prices in September rose .6%, slightly higher than Wall Street estimates of .5%. Core prices, excluding food and energy, increased just .1%, less than the expected .2% increase.
The Federal Reserve reported U.S. industrial production last month increased at a steeper than expected pace of .4%, rebounding from a 1.4% decline in August.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders' gauge of housing-market sentiment climbed higher for a sixth straight month, reaching the highest level since June 2006.
In after hours news, Intel topped estimates, reporting 3rd quarter earnings of 58¢ a share on $13.5 billion in revenue. However it's weaker than expected 4th quarter sales outlook of between $13.1 and $14.1 billion disappointed the market, leading to losses in electronic trading.
IBM's stock under pressure in overnight trading as well. Big Blue beat earnings estimates with profits of $3.62 a share, while sales fell to a weaker than expected $24.7 billion. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 5:00 PM Email to a friend |
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