Stocks rally as Dow jumps 226 points
Stocks staged a strong afternoon rally and closed higher Thursday as the major indexes broke a two-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 226 points, or 1.3%, to 17,417, with Boeing (BA) and McDonald's (MCD) leading the gains.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 19 points, or 0.9%, to 2021 and the Nasdaq composite index added 45 points, or 1%, to 4683.
All ten sectors of the S&P 500 were higher with utilities leading the way.
"We've had a bit of a turnaround since the lows we saw earlier in the day," said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. "It appears earnings outside of energy (stocks) have been rather strong."
In corporate news:
• Shares of Alibaba plunged 8.5% after the Chinese Internet giant reported revenue that fell short of Wall Street expectations. The company is also dealing with a report from the Chinese government that said it allowed the sales of fake goods on its e-commerce platforms.
• McDonald's (MCD) surged 5% after the fast-food company announced a CEO shakeup after months of lackluster results.
• Ford (F) reported as drop in profit due to special charges related to its European and Venezuelan operations but excluding charges results beat estimates. Shares rose 2.8%.
• Harley-Davidson
, Coach
and Ally Financial
were among other companies that reported quarterly financial results that exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
The government reported that weekly claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in almost 15 years last week, a sign that hiring will likely remain healthy.
The afternoon rally came after two days of sharp losses. Stocks dropped Wednesday after the Federal Reserve continued to signal a rate hike is still on the table this year.
The Fed strengthened its assessment of the U.S. economy Wednesday, noting it is expanding at a solid pace and generating strong job growth. The central bank also indicated it would remain "patient" in raising interest rates from near zero, which was expected.
European markets were mixed as Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.2% and Germany's DAX gained 0.3%
Asian stocks tumbled as Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.1%. China's Shanghai composite was down 1.3%.
Contributing: The Associated Press