Stock Market News for October 14, 2010 - Market News

Stocks rallied on Wednesday as a stream of strong earnings reports boosted investors’ enthusiasm. The rally sent stocks to a five-month high even as the US dollar continued to show weakness.

The Dow average rallied 76 points, or 0.7%, and the broader S&P 500 index added 8 points, or 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 23 points, or 0.9%. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was a notable gainer yesterday as its shares crossed $300 for the first time ever.

Better-than-expected earnings reports from blue-chips Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), both Dow components, fuelled the advance. However, shares in the two companies failed to advance with the broader market and fell more than 1%. JP Morgan’s CEO James Dimon noted credit card defaults would likely drop next quarter. Dimon’s assessment sent shares in MasterCard (NYSE:MA) up nearly 4%. American Express (NYSE:AXP) up 1.9%.

On the New York Stock Exchange, trading activity picked up yesterday as more than 1.24 billion shares exchanged hands. Advancing shares beat those that fell in price by a 3-to-1 margin. Gold prices touched a record high at $1,370.50, up 1.8%; crude prices rose 1.6% to $82.96.

Of the thirty DJIA components, fifteen recorded gains of more than 1%, led by Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), up 2.5%, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), up 2.1%, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), up 2.1%, American Express (NYSE:AXP), up 1.9%, and Boeing (NYSE:BA), up 1.8%.

All ten S&P 500 industry sectors managed gains on the day, led by basic materials (+1.5%), industrials (+1.4%), oil and gas (+1.1%), consumer goods (+0.9%), tech (+0.9%), health care (0.6%), consumer services (+0.4%), utilities (+0.4%), financials (+0.3%), and telecommunications (+0.1%).

A declining dollar sent shares in resource-related companies and firms that derive a fair share of their revenues from overseas operations higher. Risk sentiments also got a boost on reports China’s trade surplus posted at $16.9 billion in September as exports increased 25% while imports grew 24%.

After Tuesday’s lackadaisical response to $32 billion sale of 3-year notes, yesterday’s auction of $21 billion notes drew the second-lowest ever yield for 10-year notes. Prices on the 10-year finished up 3/32 in price as the yield drifted lower to 2.422%. Today the Treasury auctions $13 billion of 30-year bonds.

Among today’s interims are results from tech heavyweights Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) after the close, with numbers from food and drug retailer, Safeway (NYSE:SWY), due before the markets open.

Stock Market News for October 14, 2010 – Market News

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