The Dow and S&P 500 edged higher on Wednesday as stronger-than-expected profits from Boeing Co offset Ambac Financial Group Inc's stock slide on worries about the bond insurer's outlook. The Nasdaq was up 1.1 percent as investors bet that Apple Inc would post robust quarterly results after the close.
Shares of property and casualty insurer Safeco Corp soared 45.8 percent to $65.94 and topped the list of biggest percentage gainers on the New York Stock Exchange after diversified insurer Liberty Mutual group said it agreed to buy the company for $6.2 billion in cash.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 26.05 points, or 0.21 percent, at 12,746.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.07 points, or 0.08 percent, at 1,377.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22.03 points, or 0.93 percent, at 2,398.97.
Shares of Boeing rose 5 percent to $82.53 while Philip Morris gained 4 percent to $52.04. Ambac plunged 41.1 percent to $3.55, its worst slide in more than three months, while shares of rival MBIA Inc dropped 32.1 percent to $9.00. An S&P index of financial shares was down 0.9 percent.
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