Dow soars past 13,000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow industrials jumped more than 100 points Wednesday afternoon, topping 13,000 and hitting a new record as investors welcomed upbeat earnings from Amazon.com, Alcoa's possible sale of its packaging unit and a strong read on durable-goods orders.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 127.67 to 13,081.61, Charts) added almost 1 percent with about 40 minutes left in the session and moved as high as 13,089.73 - a new intraday high - before pulling back a bit.

The Dow industrials soars past 13,000 Wednesday.

The broader S&P 500 (up 13.82 to 1,494.23, Charts) index also added 0.6 percent and flirted with a more than six-year high. The Nasdaq (up 23.31 to 2,547.85, Charts) also added 1 percent. Should it close where it stood in the late afternoon, it would be at a new six-year high.

Investors were reacting to the day's news, but also to the broader uptrend that has lifted the markets for weeks, thanks to earnings that have topped lowered forecasts and a sense of relief about the economic outlook.

"I think we're seeing that Wall Street is resilient, which is significant after everything we've been through over the last few years," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones. He was referring to the challenges for the economy after the events of 9/11, as well as the war in Iraq - and the more recent scare about how the subprime mortgage lending fallout would impact the already struggling housing market.

"We're seeing that the market continues to be driven by the earnings, which have been good," Skrainka added. He said that investors should be able to absorb any expected slowdown in earnings growth in 2007, as it follows 3-1/2 years of double-digit percentage growth.

With 44 percent of the S&P 500 having reported, earnings are currently on track to have grown 6.2 percent from a year ago, according to the latest Thomson Financial estimates. The latest spate of better-than-expected earnings included Amazon.com, Corning and Boeing.

In addition to earnings, adding to the momentum Wednesday was a surprisingly strong reading on durable goods orders, which rose 3.4 percent in March, above forecasts.

Another report, released today showed that March home sales rebounded by less than expected from February.

In the afternoon, the Fed's "Beige Book" periodic reading on the economy showed that most areas of the country saw only moderate expansion.

While the 30-stock Dow is at an all-time high, the broader S&P 500 index remains below its all-time high of 1,527.46 hit in March 2000 at the end of the late-90s tech boom. The Nasdaq composite is nowhere near its all-time high of 5048.62, also from March 2000.

Although the Dow is a narrow index, its crossing of the 13,000 mark is nonetheless symbolic of the strength of the 4-1/2 year old bull market.

"I think it means that the beat goes on and that, specifically, the underlying forces which have been driving the market for more than four years are still intact," said William Hummer, principal at Wayne Hummer Inc.

He said those forces included the promise of economic expansion, probability that inflation will continue to be subdued and a still confident consumer.

Looking out to the rest of 2007, Hummer said that while pullbacks are necessary so as to sustain the upward trend, any such declines would probably be short lived.

Stock gains were broad based, with 27 out of 30 Dow stocks rising. Leading the advance was Alcoa (up $1.83 to $35.78, Charts, Fortune 500), which jumped 5.5 percent after the aluminum maker said it was considering selling its packaging and consumer segment, responsible for about 10 percent of its 2006 revenue. The company also said it was looking to sell several other smaller units.

Other big Dow gainers included IBM (up $2.52 to $101.01, Charts, Fortune 500), Intel (up $0.28 to $22.22, Charts, Fortune 500), American Express (up $1.31 to $62.22, Charts, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (up $1.44 to $80.04, Charts, Fortune 500).

In earnings news, Amazon.com (up $11.29 to $56.04, Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates late Tuesday. The online retailer also said second-quarter and full-year revenue would top current estimates. Shares jumped 21 percent Wednesday morning.

Wednesday morning, Dow component Boeing (up $0.66 to $94.33, Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates. However, the aerospace behemoth also kept its financial forecast for 2007 unchanged. Shares inched lower.

Corning (up $1.05 to $24.78, Charts, Fortune 500) shares jumped after the fiber-optics maker reported higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates.

On the downside, Sun Microsystems (down $0.72 to $5.22, Charts, Fortune 500) slumped after it reported higher quarterly sales that were short of forecasts late Tuesday. The company also issued a current-quarter sales forecast that is shy of estimates.

The bidding war for ABN Amro (up $2.40 to $49.80, Charts) heated up after a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland offered offered to buy the bank for more than $100 billion, just a few days after the bank agreed to be bought by Barclays (up $1.50 to $58.35, Charts). The deal would be contingent on ABN Amro breaking its deal to sell its Chicago-based LaSalle unit to Bank of America for $21 billion.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers by more than 2 to 1 on volume of 1.35 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 3 to 2 on volume of 2.31 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery rose 41.26 to $65.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the release of the mixed weekly oil inventories report.

COMEX gold for June delivery fell 30 cents to $687.40 an ounce.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.64 percent from 4.62 percent late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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