Stocks surge on strong earns from Intel, JPMorgan

First Posted:

SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Surprisingly strong earnings reports from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are sending stocks sharply higher.
In early trading Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrials were about 40 points away from the 10,000 mark, a level not seen in a year. Major stock indexes all rose about 1 percent.
JPMorgan Chase, the first major bank to report third-quarter earnings, stoked the market’s optimism as it handily beat Wall Street’s expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. However the bank also said loan losses are still high and are likely to remain so for some time.
Intel also beat analysts’ estimates, reporting a smaller-than-expected decline in profit and sales after the market closed Tuesday. The chip maker said it expects sales in the final period of the year to top analyst projections, raising hopes that the computer market was improving.
A smaller-than-expected decline in retail sales for September underpinned the market’s early gains.
The Commerce Department said retail sales declined 1.5 percent last month as car sales tumbled following the end of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program. Even though that was the largest monthly decline this year, it was not nearly as big as the 2.1 percent drop analysts had expected. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5 percent, better than the 0.2 percent increase analysts forecast.
The dollar slumped to a fresh 14-month low against other major currencies as investors’ appetite for risk increased, sending gold to another record high of $1,072 an ounce. Oil prices rose above $75 a barrel for the first time in a year.
Treasury prices fell as investors abandoned safe-haven assets for stocks and commodities.
The Dow rose 83.66, or 0.9 percent, to 9,954.72. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 11.10, or 1.0 percent, to 1,084.29, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 22.41, or 1.1 percent, to 2,162.30.