Stocks Advance Despite Lackluster Report On Positive Corporate Earnings – Acadiana Business Index

The major averages held their gains into the closing bell. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

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• The Dow Jones added 103 points to 12,909, the S&P 500 gained 9 points to 1373, and the NASDAQ advanced 33 points to close at 2943.
• Stocks edged higher throughout the session as investors overlooked a lackluster report of the Fed’s Beige Book and focused on positive corporate earnings.
• Eight of the 10 sectors on the S&P finished in the green, led by a rally in tech stocks. Shares of Intel gained 83 cents to $26.21 after the company reported a better-than-expected profit tally. Also in the space, IBM was up $4.60 to $188.25 and Google advanced $4.03 to $580.76. Financials were the worst performers. Bank of America gave up 39 cents to $7.53 after revenues fell short in their quarterly report. Capital One Financial also weighed on the sector. Shares fell 94 cents to $54.89 after the firm agreed to settle a credit card probe for $210 million.
• In other news, Vivus advanced $2.54 to $29.00 following the FDA’s regulatory approval for their new weight-loss drug.
• Composite volume on the NYSE was 3.6 billion shares with advancing issues besting decliners by a margin of 5-3. The NASDAQ was 3-2 positive on issues.
• Turning to fixed income, Treasuries are higher along the curve. The benchmark 10-year note was up 5/32 to yield 1.49% and the 30-year bond added 1/4 of a point to yield 2.60%.