US Stocks rallied overnight, with the Dow hitting its highest point since November, as investors welcomed a series of better-than-expected quarterly results. The latest report on home sales also topped estimates and added to the gains. Oil and gold prices rose. Plus, Treasury bond prices fell, as investors pulled money out of the safe-haven and turned to stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 188 points to 9,069. The S&P500 Index rose 22 to 976 and the NASDAQ added 47 points to 1,974. In economic news: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose to 554,000 last week from 524,000 the week before.
Existing home sales rose in June to 4.89 million from 4.72 million in May. Sales were better than expected and perhaps influenced by the summer weather. The median home price however continued to slide, falling 15.4% versus a year ago.
In company news: Ford Motor (NYSE:F) shares rose 9.4% to $6.98 as efforts by the automaker to reduce debt helped to deliver a second-quarter profit. Ford also reported an operating loss that was narrower than a year ago and a drop in revenue that was smaller-than-expected.
AT&T (NYSE:T) shares rose 2.58% to $25.48 after the telecom company reported quarterly sales and earnings that fell from a year ago but still topped estimates.
3M (NYSE:MMM) shares gained 7.36% to $69.43 after the company posted weaker quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates. 3M also lifted its forecast for full-year profit.
And finally McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) shares fell 4.64% to $56.09 as investors reacted to news of the company’s bigger-than-expected drop in revenue and an in-line drop in earnings.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: Making the most gains was Intuitive Surgical which jumped by 26.84% to $215.37 a day after reporting second-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Celegene and Ebay also rose. Of the worst performing stocks, Flir Systems fell by the most, down 9.97% to $21.21. While Logitech International and Sigma Aldrich also closed in the red.
