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Wall Street likes tame CPI
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July 15, 1999: 10:28 a.m. ET
Stocks gain as investors see strong earnings, no signs of inflation
By Staff Writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - News that inflation remains subdued added to a steady stream of strong second-quarter earnings reports to lift U.S. stock markets in early trading Thursday.
Shortly before 10 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was 45.91 points higher at 11,194.01. On the New York Stock Exchange gainers trounced losers 1,402 to 823 as 120 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 6.77 points to 2,824.90 and the S&P 500 index advanced 7.17 to 1,405.34.
Gains in the stock market followed a small rally in bonds, where news that the consumer price indexbarely budged in June sent prices higher and yields lower. The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond gained 11/32 of a point in price, its yield easing to 5.88 percent.
The dollar, paying little attention to the CPI data, was nearly unchanged against the yen and slightly lower against the euro,
Rate-sensitive stocks on a roll
In the stock market, financial services shares, which are the quickest to react to any indication of interest rate changes, took advantage of the mild CPI number and the bond market rally and headed higher.
Among the Dow's financial components, shares of American Express (AXP) jumped 2-7/16 to 133-15/16, Citigroup (C) rose 5/8 to 48-1/16, and J.P. Morgan (JPM) advanced 7/8 to 139-1/4.
Elsewhere in the market, Chase Manhattan (CMB) was up 5/16 to 82-1/16 and BankAmerica (BAC) rose 3/8 to 74-5/16.
Gains on the Dow were also supported by news that another component, Boeing (BA), posted surprisingly strong second-quarter earnings.
Shares of Boeing were unchanged at 47-5/8 after the company said it earned 75 cents per diluted share in the second quarter, 8 cents more than the market had expected as revenues surged 13 percent.
Another Dow member, Coca Cola (KO) saw its shares rally 1-7/16 to 63-5/16 after reporting a 21 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, compared to a year earlier, but still meeting analysts expectations, which had been lowered recently to reflect the company's troubles in Europe.
Techs calm down
Meanwhile, in the high-profile technology sector, investors appeared ready to slow down their recent buying spree and even cash in on some gains, despite a continuous stream of solid profit reports from some of the tech sector's premier members.
Shares of Apple Computer (AAPL) eased 2-15/16 to 53 after climbing for days in advance of the company's latest earnings report. Late Wednesday, Apple stunned even the most optimistic on Wall Street by solidly beating market predictions for its third-quarter profit. Apple earned 69 cents a share on an operating basis, 5 cents more than the Street had bet on.
Other computer makers also fell prey to a bit of profit taking, with Dell (DELL) easing 7/16 to 43-1/16 and Gateway (GTW) losing 5/8 to 72-5/8.
On the Dow, IBM (IBM) eased 9/16 to 136-11/16 and Hewlett Packard (HWP) edged down 3/4 to 107-11/16. 
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