Earnings releases continue in tonight's extended-hours period.
Among those due to report: Resources Connection (
), Cintas (
)
and Xilinx (
).
Stock averages finish up 3% to 3.5%, at or near the highs after a
robust session fueled by better-than-expected earnings and little
surprises in the latest round of economic data. Financials and
technology shares lead the charge after better-than-expected earnings
for many of the big names reporting so far. The more than 250-point
jump for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was its biggest since late
March.
Stocks gained throughout the day following a spate of good economic
news this morning and strong Intel (
) earnings on Tuesday night
finally gave investors some reason to be optimistic.
June consumer prices rose 0.7%, with the core rate up 0.2%. This
was largely as expected. A report measuring business sentiment in New
York also improved to neutral for July to reach its highest reading in
a year. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said June industrial activity
fell 0.4 percent, better than economists' expectations for a
0.6-percent decline.
But Intel was the market's primary driver, up 7% and hitting
nine-month highs. The tech bellwether said Q2 revs were $8 bln, better
than the analyst mean of $7.28 bln according to a Thomson Reuters poll.
Non-GAAP EPS was $0.18 per share, well ahead of the Street view of
$0.08 per share. For Q3, the company is guiding for revs of $8.5 bln,
plus or minus $400 mln, vs. Street estimates of $7.8 bln.
Elsewhere in the tech space, Juniper Networks (
) gained after
Citigroup reportedly initiated new coverage on the stock with a Buy
rating.
Financial shares were upside leaders.
