By Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, boosted by earnings from Intel
Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 56 points, or 0.3%, to
18094. The S&P 500 rose nine points, or 0.4%, to 2105, and the
Nasdaq Composite Index added 18 points, or 0.4%, to 4996.
Traders said stock-market volumes were higher than in recent
sessions because of activity around earnings, though levels
remained subdued.
Energy stocks in the S&P 500 rose 1.6%, notching the biggest
sector gain as the price of oil continued to rise. Crude-oil
futures rose 3.5% to $55.13 a barrel.
A handful of earnings boosted stocks. Delta said earnings in its
March quarter more than tripled, beating analyst expectations as
the company benefited from lower fuel prices. The airline said it
would reduce international capacity by 3% as it deals with the
strong dollar. Shares rose 3.3%.
Intel led the Dow higher, up 4.2%. The chip maker late Tuesday
reported a 3% rise in net income on overall revenue that was flat
compared with the year-ago period. Intel said last month that
revenue would suffer in the first quarter due to sagging sales of
personal computers. A bright spot was the data center group, which
posted a 19% jump in revenue.
Updates on monetary policy in Europe added to the positive tone.
The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged, as expected,
leaving its main lending rate at a record low. ECB President Mario
Draghi emphasized the central bank remains committed to its
bond-buying program. France's CAC 40 rose 0.7% and Germany's DAX
added 0.1%.
"Central banks across the board still look like they're going to
stay very accommodative and keep interest rates low for a long
time, which equity investors like," said Chris Gaffney, president
of EverBank World Markets.
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, with the Dow adding 0.3% to 18036.70.
The S&P gained 0.2% to 2095.84. With Tuesday's gains, the Dow
is now 1.4% away from its all-time high of 18288.63 and the S&P
is 1% below its record of 2117.39.
In economic news, U.S. industrial output fell in March and
posted the first quarterly decline since the recession ended. The
Federal Reserve said industrial production fell 0.6% from the prior
month. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected
a 0.4% decline in industrial production.
Many investors say the next catalyst for the stock market will
come from first-quarter earnings. Expectations were slashed going
into the reporting season as companies contended with the strong
dollar and low oil prices in the period.
Paul Karos, senior portfolio manager at Whitebox Mutual Funds,
which manages about $900 million, said he bought airline stocks
earlier this year as they should benefit from low oil prices. "They
have the clearest cost benefit [from low oil prices] of anybody in
transports," he said. Even with oil prices rebounding in recent
sessions, those prices are still down nearly 50% since last June.
"That's a huge windfall for the industry," he added.
Gold futures added 0.2% to $1195.00 an ounce. The yield on the
10-year Treasury note fell to 1.880%, compared with 1.904% on
Tuesday. Yields fall as prices rise.
In other corporate news, European Union regulators formally
accused Google Inc. of violating antitrust laws. Shares fell
1.1%.
Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it swung to a first-quarter
profit. Still, results missed analyst expectations, pushing shares
down 0.6%.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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