US stocks gain despite weak IBM earnings
US stocks rose Monday, Oct. 20, 2014, shaking off weak IBM earnings and extending the rally that began late last week. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
NEW YORK–US stocks rose Monday, shaking off weak IBM earnings and extending the rally that began late last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 19.26 points (0.12 percent) at 16,399.67.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 17.25 (0.91 percent) to 1,904.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 57.64 (1.35 percent) to 4,316.07.
Dow member IBM sank 7.2 percent after it reported a huge drop in profits and its 10th straight quarter of lower revenues.
The IBM results helped to keep the blue-chip index in negative territory for most of the day. The broader US stock market did well, while equity markets fell in Britain, France and Germany.
“The market corrected,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. Last week’s steep losses “sort of cleared the decks for the markets to focus on the economy and, above all, on earnings.”
Cardillo said investors are eager for a busy week of earnings that includes reports from Boeing, General Motors and McDonald’s.
Nasdaq heavyweight Apple rose 2.1 percent ahead of the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report. The tech giant also unveiled its “Apple Pay” system that permits transactions from mobile devices at participating retailers.
Airline stocks rose as Ebola fears abated somewhat in the United States after dozens of people potentially exposed to the virus from an infected man were declared free of risk. Delta Air Lines rose 4.8 percent and United Airlines jumped 5.8 percent, while American Airlines advanced 5.5 percent.
Oil-services giant Halliburton rose 0.6 percent as net income leaped more than 70 percent to $1.2 billion, in part due to continuing strength in North America.
Biotech company Celgene climbed 4.4 percent following the release of a paper showing positive clinical results for a treatment it is developing to address Crohn’s disease.
Toymaker Hasbro rose 4.9 percent as third-quarter net earnings translated into $1.46 per share, a penny above analyst expectations.
Refiner Tesoro advanced 8.4 percent following news it plans to buy QEP Field Services, a natural gas processing company, for $2.5 billion.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dropped to 2.18 percent from 2.20 percent Friday, while the 30-year dipped to 2.96 percent from 2.97 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
