US stocks rose on Monday at the start of the earnings reporting season as investors bet companies will beat profit forecasts following signs of strength in the economy. Positive broker comments on companies, including Google Inc and Home Depot Inc, also added to the positive tone, along with a rise in plane maker Boeing Co.
Deal speculation lent support, with shares of FedEx Corp up 2 percent after Barron's newspaper said the package delivery company may become a take-over target. Alcoa Inc's shares, the best performing Dow Jones industrial average stock so far this year, were up 0.5 percent before the aluminium producer announces financial results after the market's close, inaugurating second-quarter earnings reports.
"The bar on earnings has been set generally low again, and what's typically been happening is that companies generally beat consensus," said Steve Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich, Connecticut. "We're back to near new highs. The market is having some good reaction in the lead-up to earnings. As long as interest rates behave, we should be OK."
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 35.04 points, or 0.26 percent, at 13,646.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.04 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,532.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2.41 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,668.92. Earlier the Nasdaq climbed to its highest level in more than six years. Boeing led the Dow industrials' advance with a 1.8 percent gain to $100.81 on the New York Stock Exchange, a day after it unveiled its 787 Dreamliner passenger jet, which already has more than $100 billion in orders.
Exxon Mobil Corp gave the biggest boost to the S&P stock index, rising 0.8 percent to $87.18, after US crude oil's price climbed to $73 a barrel on supply worries.
FedEx shares rose to $90.12 on the NYSE after Barron's said the company could become a take-over target because of its modest valuation and turnaround potential. Shares of Google Inc rose 1.2 percent to $545.63 after theflyonthewall.com reported that Think Equity, a brokerage, had raised its price target on the Web search company to $700 from $620.
Bear Stearns raised its rating on Paccar Inc, the No 2 US maker of heavy trucks, according to theflyonthewall.com. The stock rose 5 percent to $93.21 on the Nasdaq where it was the biggest advancer ahead of Google.
Shares of Home Depot Inc rose 0.7 percent to $40.56 on the NYSE after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the home improvement chain, while Credit Suisse raised its price target to $43 from $40. But Lexmark International Inc fell 8.3 percent to $45.30 after the maker of computer printers, cut its second-quarter outlook.
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