Friday July 17, 09:53 PM
Wall Street mostly higher, Dow makes five-day rally
NEW YORK (AFP) - US stocks closed mostly higher Friday as investors digested surprisingly good earnings reports from big companies and took a breather after four days of robust gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.12 points (0.37 percent) to 8,743.94, extending a blue-chip rally to a fifth straight day.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) edged up 1.58 points (0.08 percent) to 1,886.61, while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 0.36 point (0.04 percent) to 940.38.
Narrow sideways trading marked the session ahead of the weekend, leaving stocks mixed.
"It's been a pretty good run-up this week, so there's a little bit of a pause," said Owen Fitzpatrick, an analyst at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) . The Dow added 7.3 percent over the week.
Investors had a barrage of better-than-expected earnings reports to digest. Though earnings beat the average analyst forecasts, some other elements of the financial results raised red flags.
"Reading between the banner headlines of upside earnings surprises, we see in the commentary from companies reporting that the pace of economic recovery isn't going to be a quick one which, in turn, leaves us questioning the rapidity and sustainability of this week's move," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
Bank of America (NYSE: IKJ - news) shares fell 2.13 percent to 12.85 dollars. The largest US bank by assets topped forecasts with 3.2 billion dollars in second-quarter net profit.
Troubled Citigroup slipped 0.33 percent to 3.02 dollars after reporting profit of 4.3 billion dollars in the second quarter, resulting from a big one-time gain on a joint brokerage venture.
Large business lender CIT Group (NYSE: CIT - news) , on the brink of bankruptcy, soared 70.73 percent to 70 cents, recouping almost all of Thursday's loss. After the market close Thursday, the bank said it was working with lenders to avoid collapse after the government refused fresh aid.
General Electric (NYSE: GE - news) plunged 6.05 percent to 11.65 dollars. The big conglomerate, seen as a bellwether of the US economy, reported a 49 percent drop in second-quarter net profit from a year ago that still beat Wall Street expectations.
Toymaker titan Mattel (NYSE: MAT - news) vaulted 7.60 percent to 17.42 dollars after swinging into profit.
In the technology space, IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) gained a hefty 4.32 percent to 115.42 dollars. Big Blue reported results that topped market expectations and raised its earnings outlook.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG - news) tumbled 2.79 percent to 430.25 dollars. The Internet search engine giant's earnings also exceeded Street forecasts.
On the economic calendar, housing starts and construction permits rose more than expected in June, official data showed.
"Today's reports are a positive indicator, not just in the housing market but in the economy as a whole, because of the importance the housing sector has on economic activity," the Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said.
Bonds tumbled. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond increased to 3.651 percent from 3.557 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond rose to 4.529 percent from 4.446 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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