Boeing, other firms boost stocks with better earnings
NEW YORK — Stocks rose Wednesday for the first time this week after better-than-estimated profits at technology, industrial and tobacco companies overshadowed declines in banks and commodity producers.
EMC Corp., Boeing Co. and Philip Morris International Inc. helped lead the advance. Safeco Corp. jumped the most since at least 1982 after the insurer agreed to be bought for $6.2 billion.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which swung between gains and declines at least 16 times, rose 3.99 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,379.93. The Dow Jones industrial average added 42.99, or 0.3 percent, to 12,763.22. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 28.27, or 1.2 percent, to 2,405.21, helped by a rally in Apple Inc.
EMC gained 30 cents to $15.89. The world’s largest maker of storage computers reported first-quarter profit and sales that beat analysts’ estimates.
Boeing added $3.53, or 4.5 percent, to $82.09 for the top gain in the Dow average.
Philip Morris rallied $1.93 to $52.
Safeco rallied $20.71, or 46 percent, to $65.94. Liberty Mutual Group Inc. agreed to buy the Seattle-based company for about $68.25 a share.
Apple gained $2.69 to $162.89. The company said profit rose 36 percent, more than analysts estimated.
Broadcom Corp. added $3.84, or 16 percent, to $27.39 for the biggest rise since January 2006. The maker of chips for mobile- phone manufacturers said first-quarter net income advanced to 14 cents a share on higher demand. Sales climbed 15 percent to $1.03 billion.
Microsoft Corp. climbed $1.20 to $31.45, its highest since Jan payday advance. 31.
Yahoo dropped 46 cents to $28.08 after the owner of the second-most-popular Internet search engine gave a forecast for this quarter that met analysts’ estimates.
Schering-Plough Corp. climbed $1.13 to $18.27. The maker of the Vytorin and Zetia cholesterol pills reported first-quarter profit that fell less than analysts expected as revenue jumped 57 percent.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge of how much investors are paying for insurance against share declines, decreased 2.9 percent to 20.26.
Ambac tumbled $2.57, or 43 percent, to $3.46 for the steepest slide in the S&P 500.
Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, lost 49 cents to $24.63. AIG, the world’s largest insurer, retreated $1.41 to $43.86. Merrill Lynch lost $1.59 to $44.91.
Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s second-largest gold producer by volume, dropped 80 cents to $43.85. Gold prices fell to the lowest in almost three weeks as the euro eased from a record against the dollar.
UPS dropped 23 cents to $71.67.
Norfolk Southern slipped $2.40 to $58.74.
American Water Works Co., the largest U.S. private-sector water utility, dropped 90 cents to $20.60 in its first day of trading on the NYSE.
Filed under: finance by Fred