Stocks Keep Gaining Early Thursday
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are rising Thursday as investors continue to snap up shares of companies that do better in times of faster economic growth, such as industrial and technology companies and banks. A round of solid results from companies including Cisco Systems are also sending the market higher. Stocks are on track for their fifth gain in a row after they suffered their steepest drop in more than two years.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 17 points, to 0.7 percent, to 2,716 as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 221 points, or 0.9 percent, to 25,115. The Nasdaq composite climbed 65 points, or 0.9 percent, to 7,208. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,528.
Despite the gains over the past week, the S&P 500 is 5.5 percent below the record high it set on Jan. 26.
EARN IT: Technology bellwether Cisco reported a bigger profit and better sales than analysts expected, and it also said it continued to win more subscriptions in its fiscal second quarter. Cisco also said it will buy back another $25 billion of its own stock. Cisco climbed $1.87, or 4.4 percent, to $43.96.
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Travel website TripAdvisor gained $5.22, or 12.8 percent, to $45.94 after it also beat Wall Street estimates. The stock has surged 33 percent this year.
Animal health company Zoetis rose $1.98, or 2.7 percent, to $76.44 following its report, but data storage company NetApp lost $7.65, or 12.6 percent, to $52.99 as its forecasts for the current quarter disappointed investors.
BUFFET BETS ON TEVA: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed an investment in struggling Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. It owned 18.9 million shares of the Israeli drugmaker at the end of last year. Teva said in December that it would eliminate one-fourth of its jobs as it deals with falling generic drug prices, the loss of patent protection on its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and $30 billion in debt from its acquisition of Allergan's generics business. On Thursday the stock climbed $2.08, or 10.8 percent, to $21.41. Two years ago it was worth more than $55 a share.
HEAVY INDUSTRY: While the Federal reserve said U.S. factory output was unchanged in January, industrial companies rose again. Boeing jumped $8.25, or 2.4 percent, to $353.11 and aircraft maker United Technologies gained $3.89, or 3.1 percent, to $129.89. 3M picked up $3.67, or 1.6 percent, to $234.21.
WATCHING PRICES: U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.4 percent in January, the biggest increase since November, as a big jump in energy prices offset a small decline in the cost of food. The Labor Department says wholesale prices are up 2.7 percent over the last year. But energy prices have slumped this month, and even though investors have grown concerned about signs of inflation and rising interest rates, they didn't react to Thursday's report, or to a report showing consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in January.
BOUNCING BACK: Investors have been "buying on the dips" for years, and the moves over the last few days may look familiar. The last significant drop in the market prior to this month came in June 2016, after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The S&P 500 fell more than 5 percent in just two days, then gained it back almost as quickly.
BONDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained around four-year highs as it declined to 2.90 percent from 2.91 percent.
ENERGY: U.S. crude oil fell 31 cents to $60.29 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 54 cents to $63.82 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar slid to 106.38 yen from 107.09 yen. The euro rose to $1.2486 from $1.2435.
OVERSEAS: France's CAC 40 climbed 1.2 percent and Germany's DAX gained 0.4 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent as well. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.5 percent and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng advanced 2 percent in a half-day trading session. Markets in mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed for the lunar new year holiday.
(BE)