Solid earnings push up US stocks

NEW YORK: Better-than-expected earnings reports from several leading companies gave US stock markets a strong boost in opening trade Tuesday.

At 1400 GMT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 122.19 points (1.0 percent) to 12,507.35.

The broader S&P 500 jumped 12.50 points (0.96 percent) to 1,317.94, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 43.77 points (1.58 percent) to 2,808.88.

Better-than-expected second-quarter earnings rolled in from Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, and IBM, giving the markets their boost.

The Nasdaq got its big boost from Oracle, which jumped 3.0 percent, Baidu (+2.6 percent) and Microsoft (+1.5 percent.)

Goldman Sachs stood out as a disappointment with second-quarter earnings of $1.05 billion, more than double the same period last year, but below analysts' expectations.

Goldman Shares fell 1.4 percent, dragging down with it Bank of America (-1.5 percent).

Wells Fargo shares jumped 1.7 percent on its buoyant earnings report.

Bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.95 percent from 2.91 percent late Monday, while the 30-year bond climbed to 4.30 percent from 4.29 percent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011