Tech giants muscle Dow to 5-year high
Trader Michael Zicchinolfi, left, and specialist Michael Pistillo work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. McDonald's Corp. on Wednesday topped expectations for the quarter and the full year, after a strong showing in the tech sector late Tuesday from Google, IBM and Cree Inc. (Jan. 22, 2013) Credit: AP
Strong earnings from tech giants nudged the stock market to a five-year high Wednesday. Investors drew encouragement from a vote by the House of Representatives to let the government keep paying all of its bills for another four months.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 67.12 points to close at 13,779.33. That's the highest level since Oct. 31, 2007, a month before the recession started.
IBM led the Dow's 30 stocks, rising $8.64 to $204.72. Without IBM's 4.41 percent gain, the Dow would have been nearly flat.
Other indexes made slight gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up 0.15 percent to 1,494.81, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 0.33 percent to 3,153.67.
The quarterly earnings season is off to strong start. Of the 83 companies in the S&P 500 that reported through Tuesday, 54 have beaten Wall Street's estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 3: Top football teams in action, fantasy update and plays of the week Gregg Sarra sounds off on the Northport and Half Hollow Hills East matchup, plus Tess Ferguson has an update on the high school fantasy football standings and Jared Vailuzzi has the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Season 3, Ep 3: Top football teams in action, fantasy update and plays of the week Gregg Sarra sounds off on the Northport and Half Hollow Hills East matchup, plus Tess Ferguson has an update on the high school fantasy football standings and Jared Vailuzzi has the plays of the week.
