US stocks soar

Wall Street got the dose of good news it has been longing for today better-than-expected earnings, and from two big companies, General Motors and Texas Instruments.

Stocks surged. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 207.65, or 2.1%, at 10,301.32, the index’s biggest one-day point gain since March 4, when the blue chips rose 217.96.

But analysts warn that there are likely to be large fluctuations in the market, and the past two sessions illustrate the point on Monday, the Dow fell 97.15 to its lowest close since February 22.

Today also saw the market’s broader indicators rise sharply. The tech-focused Nasdaq climbed 61.39, or 3.5%, to 1,815.17 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 25.56, or 2.3%, to 1,128.11.

GM, the strongest Dow industrial today, rose dlrs 2.95 to dlrs 64.05 after reporting first-quarter profits of dlrs 1.39 a share, 25 cents higher than analysts had forecast. GM also raised its full-year earnings estimate, a sign that GM believes consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy, will continue to strengthen.

Texas Instruments climbed dlrs 1.66 to dlrs 33.79, having reported earnings late on Monday of a penny a share, beating Wall Street’s break-even estimates. The firm also said orders rose and that it has turned the corner in the semiconductor slump.

‘‘We think we can say goodbye to the bottom,’’ said Ron Slaymaker, the company’s manager of investor relations.

Other stocks to rise included Intel, up dlrs 1.34 at dlrs 29.45 on Texas Instruments’ good news and ahead of its own earnings. Johnson & Johnson rose dlrs 1.10 to dlrs 63.26 on better-than-anticipated results. Both are Dow components as well.

Wall Street welcomed today’s string of stronger-than-expected earnings following mixed reports from Eli Lilly and Citigroup on Monday and General Electric on Friday and last week’s earnings and revenue warning from IBM.

There were some earnings losers today including Caterpillar, missing expectations by a penny and falling dlrs 1.34 to dlrs 56.65. Delta declined 38 cents to dlrs 29.63 on a wider-than-expected loss.

Today’s advance was the first sign of vigour in the market in weeks. Investors dubious about first-quarter results and prospects for coming quarters have taken the safer route of pulling their money out of the market.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners slightly more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderate.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 10.21, or 2.0%, to 522.95.