U.S. stocks higher on Fed move, earnings; Dow Jones up 0.49%
Investing.com
Published Jan 26, 2012 10:05AM ET
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49%, the S&P 500 index added 0.41%, while the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 0.44%.
Official data showed earlier that U.S. durable goods orders advanced for the third consecutive month, climbing 2.1%, outstripping expectations for a 0.9% rise.
A separate report showed that U.S. jobless claims rose slightly more-than-expected last week, after dropping to the lowest level in nearly four years in the previous week.
The reports came one day after the Federal Reserve pushed back expectations for a likely interest rate increase and hinted at more quantitative easing.
U.S. lenders led gains, tracking their European counterparts higher, with shares in Citigroup surging 2.74% and Bank of America climbing 1.77%, while Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan jumped 1.36% and 0.85%.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar rallied 4.41% after the heavy equipment maker posted a 58% jump in quarterly profit that blew past expectations, helped by an increased global demand for construction machinery.
Netflix skyrocketed 24.12% after the movie-streaming website said it picked up more U.S. subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere, Apple was up 0.25% a day after the iPhone maker's stock hit all-time highs, boosted by significantly higher-than-expected quarterly results.
On the downside, AT&T saw shares tumble 2.05% after the company posted earnings that narrowly missed expectations, but the wireless provider still beat revenue estimates, thanks to a surge in new subscribers.
Amgen was also down 1.57% after saying said it plans to purchase biopharmaceutical firm Micromet in a deal valued at about USD1.16 billion. Micromet shares skyrocketed 32% after the news.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply higher. The EURO STOXX 50 surged 1.93%, France’s CAC 40 soared 1.62%, Germany's DAX jumped 1.90%, while Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 1.29%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 1.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shed 0.4%.
Also Thursday, official data showed that U.S. new home sales declined unexpectedly in December to 307,000 from 314,000.
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