UPS earning report lifts US stocks

Gains at Wall Street for sixth straight day

Strong earning reports from UPS after yesterday's close helped US stocks make a strong start and ultimately end the day with modest gains on Thursday, 15 April 2010. With Thursday's gains, US stocks ended higher for the sixth straight session. Other than that, strong economic data on US and global front also helped improve market momentum.

At the end of the day on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 21.46 points at 11144.57. Nasdaq ended higher by 10.83 points at 2515.69. S&P 500 ended higher by 1.02 points at 1211.67.

Three of ten economic sectors ended higher for the day led by technology, industrial, and consumer discretionary sectors. Healthcare and financials were among the sectors that ended in the red. Intel led the pack of Dow winners.

Among the widely anticipated earning reports, better-than-expected earnings and an upside forecast from global shipping carrier, UPS, after the prior session's close seemed to set the stage for continued gains in the early going. The report propelled UPS to its best single-session percentage gain in more than one year.

Crude oil prices ended marginally higher on Thursday, 15 April 2010. Strong economic reports from US and China helped offset the effect from rising dollar. On Thursday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for May delivery closed at $86.75/barrel (higher by $0.02 or 0.02%). This was second consecutive rise for crude after dropping for last five sessions.

Among economic data for the day, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose by 24,000 in the latest week to 484,000. The four-week average of initial claims - a better measure of labor trends, also increased. Continuing claims climbed to a worse-than-expected 4.64 million.

Also, U.S. industrial production rose 0.1% in March, lower than expectations as utilities output showed a sharp drop. However, manufacturing activity in the New York region improved at a faster pace in April, as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire State manufacturing index rose to 31.9 in April from 22.9 in March.

Among latest data, it showed that China's economy expanded 11.9% in the first quarter of 2010 from the year-earlier period, exceeding expectations.

In the currency market on Thursday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against basket of six other currencies rose by 0.4%. Greece's debt woes once again perked up the dollar. The dollar index gained about 0.7% in March and rallied 4% during the first quarter. The dollar index has gained 4.5% this year till date.

Declining stocks outpaced advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where 1.2 billion shares traded. Composite volume topped 6.1 billion.

Natural gas futures tanked following a report showing a larger-than-expected increase in U.S. storages. Natural gas for May delivery lost 21 cents, or 5.1%, to settle at $3.9850 per million British thermal units.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Thursday. Rediff.com was the main winner soaring 6.4%. ICICI Bank fell 2.4%.

Tomorrow morning, two economic reports are scheduled to be released before the open. They are building permits and housing starts. Other than that, earning reports will continue to dominate