US stocks rise

Positive earnings reports and encouraging words about the economy from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan combined to push US stock prices solidly higher today.

Greenspan told Congress he saw signs that the recession would soon end, which heartened investors who themselves have been increasingly confident since late last year. The Fed chairman helped squash recent fears that the market has risen too much and too fast.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 65.52, or 0.7%, at 9,796.48.

The Dow has fallen for most of January as investors worried they had bought stocks prematurely.

On January 4, the Dow achieved its best close since the terror attacks, rising to 10,259.74, up 24.5% from its September 21 low of 8,235.81. The Dow is now about 19% above that low.

The broader market also finished higher, boosted by the technology sector. The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 20.16, or 1.1%, to 1,942.54, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 4.01, or 0.4%, to 1,132.19. The Nasdaq is up 36.5% from its September 21 low; the S&P is up 17%.

The market’s upturn also came in response to a string of encouraging earnings reports.

Among Wall Street’s winners, EMC rose dlrs 2.04 to dlrs 16.60 after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of 4 cents a share, 3 cents better than analysts were expecting, and said it would be profitable in 2002.

UnitedHealth gained dlrs 1.93 to dlrs 74.33 after beating earnings estimates by 3 cents a share. Kimberly Clark, which beat estimates by 2 cents a share, advanced 75 cents to dlrs 59.20.

The advance was also attributable to cheaper prices following last week’s selloff that was prompted by weak outlooks from tech bellwethers Microsoft, Intel and IBM.

Today, Microsoft rose 92 cents to dlrs 64.66, Intel climbed 75 cents to dlrs 33.20, and IBM advanced 82 cents to dlrs 108.72.

The market also drew strength from the Labour Department’s report that new claims for unemployment insurance declined for the third consecutive week, hitting their lowest level in six months. The report suggested the long-anticipated economic rebound is reaching workers.

But there were disappointments today, such as Bristol Myers Squibb, which met fourth-quarter expectations but predicted first-quarter results would be down 10-15% from last year. The drugmaker fell dlrs 2.53 to dlrs 46.85.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners nearly 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume totalled 1.49 billion shares, ahead of the 1.44 billion shares traded on Wednesday.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 2.28, or 0.5%, to 479.73.