Earnings held sway over stock indexes on Wednesday. þþMarkets on Wall Street and in Europe jumped on the heels of strong results from the Intel Corporation and other companies. þþIntel rose 5.8 percent said after the market closed on Tuesday that its first-quarter net income rose 29 percent because of rising demand for personal computers. The results handily beat analysts’ expectations and proved tablet computers haven’t made PCs obsolete. þþShares of Yahoo added 4.9 percent after the company reported that cost-cutting efforts pushed its first-quarter earnings above Wall Street’s expectations. þþAnd the computer giant I.B.M. blew past earnings expectations, with first-quarter net income rising 10 percent. Still, the company’s shares were down 1.9 percent, because it signed fewer contracts for service abroad during the quarter. þþBeyond the technology sector, Wells Fargo, the nation’s biggest retail bank, said first-quarter profit rose 48 percent from a year ago — even as it contends with the same problems as rivals, particularly the slowdown in mortgage lending and the clean-up costs of the foreclosure mess. Wells Fargo shares, however, fell 4.7 percent. þþThe telecommunications giant AT&T reported results that matched expectations but said it pulled in the lowest number of new subscribers for iPhones ever because of competition from Verizon. It shares were flat. þþAnd the Altria Group said first-quarter net income rose, in spite of selling fewer cigarettes, because of lower costs and higher prices for packs. þþ“The reporting season continues to provide fuel for the fire,” the head of research at IG Index, Anthony Grech, said. þþThose results, alongside positive housing data, has helped stocks advance in the run-up to the Easter weekend, when many of the world’s leading stock exchanges will be closed for four days. þþIn morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was 185.31 points or 1.51 percent higher, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 18.30 points or 1.4 percent. The technology heavy Nasdaq, fueled by Intel, added 43.65 points or 1.9 percent. þþIn London, the FTSE 100 was up 2 percent while the DAX in Frankfurt rose 2.8 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris was 2.4 percent higher. þþOn Monday, Wall Street shares posted their biggest one-day drop in over a month after a warning from Standard & Poor’s that the federal government’s credit rating had a one-in-three chance of being downgraded, given the state of the public finances and worries that policymakers will not be able to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. þþThat had consequences around the world, with indexes in Europe tracking Wall Street’s decline. Asian markets retreated when they opened for business Tuesday before the earnings statements and the housing data helped calm the waters. þþEarlier in Asia on Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.8 percent to close at 9,606.82 despite a government report showing that exports for March dropped for the first time in 16 months — one of many consequences felt from the mammoth earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast region last month. The index is down more than 6 percent since the March 11 disaster. þþHong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.6 percent to 23,896.10. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 3,007.04. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand also rose. þþIn the oil markets, prices remained elevated as the fighting in Libya continues. Benchmark crude for June delivery was up $1.20 to $109.48 a barrel in New York trading. þþ
Source: NY Times
