Dow hits a fresh five-year high

Publish date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013, 07:47 AM
NEW YORK: US stocks rose Tuesday, with the Dow hitting a fresh five-year high, as investors weighed company earnings and a mixed batch of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 72.49 points (0.52 per cent) to 13,954.42, just 1.5 per cent below its all-time closing high on October 9, 2007.

The SandP 500, a broad measure of the markets, advanced 7.66 points (0.51 per cent) to 1,507.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat, down a mere 0.64 point (0.02 per cent) at 3,153.66.

"It just seems to be a bold move higher, with nothing else going on," said Steven Rosen of Societe Generale. "It is not a big move though."

"Given some seemingly negative economic news," Joe Bell of Schaeffer's Investment Research noted, "the market showed great resilience."

Investors shrugged off a weaker-than-expected consumer confidence reading to focus on positive corporate profit tallies. Home prices continued to show a recovery in the housing market.

The action came as the Federal Reserve opened a two-day meeting amid expectations the Fed will keep ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged.

Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, led the Dow gainers, jumping 3.2 per cent after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that topped expectations.

Hewlett-Packard was the blue-chip laggard, sliding 3.2 per cent.

Ford slumped 4.6 per cent after posting stronger-than-expected earnings but mixed forecasts for 2013.

The Nasdaq was "hamstrung by Yahoo Inc's softer-than-expected guidance and VMware Inc's disappointing revenue outlook," Charles Schwab and Co. said in a market note.

Yahoo! lost 3.0 per cent and VMWare, a virtualisation software and cloud computing company, plunged 21.5 per cent.

On the Nasdaq, Apple added 1.9 per cent after debuting a new iPad with more storage capacity.

Research in Motion tumbled 3.2 per cent a day ahead of its launch of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone. -- AFP
Discussions
Be the first to like this. Showing 5 of 5 comments

ledzepp

If all of us ignore the impending GE13, which we all know will be coming soon, our market should be flying sky high as well!

2013-01-30 14:46

WilliamWang

haha .. i agree with u but this shit p...m ,.... always keep us guessing . see australian already announced september will be election . so early let everyone now. only malaysia we all guessing since this shit p...m... take over the post . f***

2013-01-30 14:49

saufi74

Behave william wang...here shares mkt forum..not politics forum..

2013-01-30 17:09

WilliamWang

economy + share market + politic all related .

2013-01-30 17:13

BIGFish

regional and global market were good and high, except our market, too sensitive here ... foreign fund wont go in high market, someone might have create panic here, and sapu from the low..... i guess.., pls ppl dont be conn by them.

2013-01-30 17:35

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