Strong earnings news from Dell and Dow component Alcoa
kicked off first-quarter earnings season in fine fashion on Thursday.
Dell’s quarter still has a few more weeks left, and the company won’t officially report results until next month, but the company’s assurance late Wednesday that it is on track to meet Wall Street expectations gave a lift to investors nervous about the effect of rising inflation, interest rates and oil prices on corporate earnings.
Dell also unveiled an ambitious plan to grow revenues by 60% over the next three to four years to $80 billion a year.
Coupled with better than expected results from cyclical giant Alcoa, stocks posted strong gains on the day.
The Nasdaq rose 19 to 2018, the S&P 500 gained 7 to 1191, and the Dow climbed 60 to 10,546. Volume rose to 1.88 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.73 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 20-12 on the NYSE, and 18-11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 70% on the NYSE, and 78% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 90-22 on the NYSE, and 55-81 on the Nasdaq.
After the close, Accenture beat estimates. Borland
and Ariba
warned, and AOL Latin America’s
auditors expressed doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a “going concern.” Blue Coat
tumbled on an SEC trading probe.
During the day, Nokia rose 1.5% after its annual meeting. Piper Jaffray said new products planned for later this year could boost lagging North American sales.
Concord Communications soared 68% on a buyout offer from CA
.
eBay slipped 3% on a lukewarm research note from Jefferies & Co.