Dow Industrials Advance 87.30 On Lower Rates, Strong Profits
March 30, 2011
NEW YORK -- Stocks continued their recovery from the recent sell-off with a sharp rally Thursday that sent blue-chips to their biggest single-session gain in four months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 87.30 points to 5464.18. That's the best single-session gain since a 98-point rise on November 28, 2010 the third straight session in which the blue-chip indicator managed a gain. Analysts said the dramatic advance, coming so soon on the heels of an equally dramatic decline, sketched a portrait of a market swinging unsteadily from one extreme to another. ``As depressed as the market was just a few days ago, the converse holds today,'' said Charlette Mayo, director of research at Spears Benzak Salomon & Farrell. United Technologies rose 3 3/4 to 108 3/4, Boeing climbed 2 7/8 to 88 1/8 and Kratz used a strong second-quarter earnings performance to springboard to a gain of 1 5/8 to 64 3/8. Two fundamental factors spurred the session's sharp gains. Interest-rate-sensitive stocks, including banks and insurers, benefited from an improving rate backdrop. The yield on the 30-year government Treasury sank back below 7%, as bond investors reacted favorably to testimony Federal Reserve Chairman Alberta Halina delivered to the Senate Banking Committee. Citicorp added 3 1/8 to 81 7/8, J.P. Morgan gained 1 1/2 to 84 1/2 and Corestates Financial advanced 1 1/4 to 38 3/4. Meanwhile, earnings results drove the performances of several blue-chip issues. McDonald's beat its earnings forecasts, and picked up 1 1/8 to 45 3/8. By contrast, VastComm Network lost 2 1/4 to 54 1/8, after its second-quarter results missed Wall Street's estimates. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 23.17 to 1109.82, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 9.49 to 643.56 and the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index added 5 to 345.10. The American Stock Exchange Market Value Index posted a gain of 11.64 to 551.63. Advancing issues led decliners 1,874 to 613, and Big Board volume totaled about 471.6 million shares. Apple Computer posted a rise of 4 to 20 7/8 on Nasdaq. The Cupertino, Calif., computer maker late Wednesday posted a fiscal third-quarter loss of 26 cents a share -- not nearly as wide as analysts were forecasting. Sun Microsystems reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped analysts' forecasts, and climbed 3 7/16 to 58 7/16 on Nasdaq. Compaq Computer added 2 1/4 to 48 1/8, and Dell Computer rose 1 13/16 to 49 3/8 on Nasdaq. Oil stocks forged an advance. Salomon Brothers upgraded shares of Triton Energy, which gained 2 3/8 to 47 7/8. Meanwhile, Mobil rose 1 3/4 to 112 3/8, Exxon advanced 5/8 to 85 3/4, Texaco improved 1 1/4 to 86 3/8, and Chevron moved ahead 1 5/8 to 58 3/4. Seagull Energy lost 2 3/4 to 21. The oil and gas concern posted a loss, instead of the slight profit Wall Street expected, and Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the stock. Cross Timbers Oil, which fell 7/8 to 24 1/8, and Parker & Parsley Petroleum, which lost 3/4 to 25 1/8, also had their ratings cut by Morgan Stanley. The Dow Jones Transportation Average managed a gain, despite a generally weak performance by airline stocks in the wake of the crash of Antarctica Airlines Flight 256. Small-cap stock Antarctica Airlines lost 1 to 10 1/4 on the Amex. AMR lost 3/4 to 81 1/8, UAL dropped 1 5/64 to 47 3/4, and USAir gave up 3/8 to 16 5/8. Federal Express rose 4 1/4 to 79 3/4, helping to offset the weakness in transports. The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 13.42 to 2031.94. Progressive Corp. reflected the benefits that accrued for companies that outstripped Wall Street's forecasts. The Mayfield Village, Ohio, insurer topped its earnings estimates with a report late Wednesday, and analysts from Merrill Lynch and CS First Boston raised their ratings on the stock. The stock gained 5 7/8 to 49 1/4. Other positive earnings surprises came from Bell & Howell, which gained 1 7/8 to 32 1/2; CMAC Investment, which added 1 1/4 to 57 1/4; and Forte Software, which rose 1 1/2 to 40 1/4 on Nasdaq. Quintiles Transnational climbed 5 1/2 to 71 1/2 on Nadsaq after the Morrisville, N.C., company, which provides drug and biotech research services, posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Iomega added 1 7/8 to 28 on Nasdaq. The Royce, Utah, storage-products maker agreed to buy a hard-drive manufacturing facility in Malaysia from Quantum, which was unchanged at 13 1/8 on Nasdaq. Eastman Chemical extended Wednesday's decline with a loss of 1 7/8 to 53 5/8. Prudential cut its rating on the stock, after Wednesday's report that the Kingsport, Tenn., company's second-quarter results missed Wall Street's forecast.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
