Dow crosses 10,000 for first time in a year

Upbeat earnings from Intel and JP Morgan Chase boost stocks

US stocks ended with strong gains on Wednesday, 14 October, 2009. The positive mood checked in since last evening since Intel reported better than expected earnings. That was taken further ahead by another earning surprise in the financial sector. With the Dollar Index down once again to fourteen month low, the same also pushed stocks higher in broad-based fashion. The Dow closed above 10,000, for the first time in one year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 144.8 points at 10,015.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index, ended higher by 32.34 points at 2,172.23. S&P 500 ended higher by 18.83 points at 1092.02.

Five of the ten economic sectors ended in the green led by financial, industrial, materials and energy sectors.

The positive tone started last evening with better-than-expected earnings and a strong forecast from chipmaker Intel. Things picked up further when JPMorgan Chase announced this morning earnings that exceeded the consensus forecast. JPMorgan's report helped the financial sector snap back from the previous session's loss and trade with leadership this entire session.

The latest minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee were announced today afternoon. The minutes from the Fed statement indicated that job losses are slowing from earlier in the year and that most members have upwardly revised economic projections.

Among economic reports expected for the day, retail sales data for September has also provided a boon to stocks. According to the Advance Retail Sales Report, sales fell 1.5% last month, but that wasn't as bad as the 2.1% decline that was widely expected. Excluding autos, retail sales were up 0.5% in September. That exceeded the 0.2% that was expected.

Import price data for September was largely in-line with expectations, but business inventory data for August was a bit disappointing. Neither report had much of an impact on trading, though.

Crude prices ended higher at Nymex on Wednesday, 14 October, 2009 and ended above the $75 mark for the first time in a year. Prices rallied today as better than expected earning reports from a couple of companies raised investors' hopes about recovery of the US economy in the coming months. The weak dollar also boosted crude price.

On Wednesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for November delivery closed at $75.18/barrel (higher by $1.03 or 1.8%). Last week, crude ended higher by 2.8%.

In the currency market on Wednesday, the dollar fell against most of its rivals. The euro climbed up substantially today. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell to fourteen month low figure once again.

Barring Tata Motors, all Indian ADRs ended with solid gains. Rediff.com and Sify were the main gainers soaring 12.8% and 9.9% respectively.

For tomorrow, the day is heavy on both earning and economic reports. Initial Claims, continuing Claims, core CPI and CPI are the main economic reports expected. In terms of earning names, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are major names.