Big rally on Wall Street

Major stock gauges rise, with Nasdaq the most buoyant; investors welcome drop in jobless claims, upbeat start to earnings reporting period.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rallied early Thursday afternoon, pushing the Nasdaq composite to its highest point in nearly six years and the Dow Jones industrial average to within shouting distance of an all-time high.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 83.39 to 12,525.55, Charts) added 0.7 percent roughly 2-1/2 hours into the session. Should the Dow end the day where it stood at noon, it would be a fresh record closing high. The record trading high of 12,580.35, from Jan. 3, was also within reach.

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The Nasdaq (up 25.44 to 2,484.77, Charts) composite added 1 percent. Should the Nasdaq close where it stood, it would be at a new nearly six-year high. The broader S&P 500 (up 10.77 to 1,425.62, Charts) index added 0.8 percent. Should it close where it stood, it would be at a fresh more than six-year high.

The positive momentum enabled investors to shrug off any concerns about rising bond yields and a surprise interest rate hike from the Bank of England.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the stock advance Wednesday amid lower oil prices and some upbeat earnings.

Oil and gas prices have been slumping since the start of the year. A decline in energy prices helps reduce inflationary pressures on the economy and puts more money back in the hands of consumers.

U.S. light crude oil prices for February delivery continued to slide early Thursday afternoon, after seesawing in the morning. Oil fell 32 cents to $53.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In addition to the recent decline in oil prices, another good sign for the economy Thursday was the weekly jobless claims report, which fell to the lowest level since July.

On the downside, investors on both sides of the Atlantic were thrown for a loop after the Bank of England opted to boost its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-percentage point due to pricing pressures. The move surprised economists who thought the bankers would hold steady for the time being.

The next Federal Reserve policy meeting is not until the end of January and economists expect the central bank to hold steady.

Treasury prices slumped, boosting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.71 percent from 4.68 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the yen and euro.

Although the fourth-quarter earnings reporting period doesn't heat up until later in the month, a few companies released results.

Late Wednesday, Genentech (up $3.60 to $87.34, Charts) reported quarterly sales and earnings that rose from a year ago and topped estimates. The biotech also issued a 2007 earnings growth projection that is more than analysts are currently forecasting. Shares rallied Thursday morning.

In other news, Cisco Systems (up $0.29 to $28.97, Charts) is suing Apple (down $1.16 to $95.84, Charts) for trademark infringement over the name of its new device iPhone. (Full story).

eBay (up $1.05 to $30.35, Charts) rose on news that it's buying online ticket broker StubHub for $310 million.

Other big tech gainers included Intel (up $0.40 to $21.92, Charts), Microsoft (up $0.51 to $30.17, Charts), Yahoo! (up $0.46 to $29.16, Charts) and Qualcomm (up $0.65 to $39.20, Charts).

However, gains were broad-based, with most S&P sectors rising.

Blue-chip gains were also decisive, with 28 out of 30 Dow stocks rising. In addition to Intel and Microsoft, other Dow gainers included Honeywell (up $0.84 to $45.80, Charts), United Technologies (up $1.14 to $63.83, Charts) and DuPont (up $0.58 to $48.84, Charts).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers by more than three to one on volume of 380 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by over two to one on volume of 590 million shares.


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.