Stocks jump as Nasdaq hits new 2015 closing high
Stocks rose Wednesday as the major indexes moved closer to record levels and a tech stock rally sent the Nasdaq to a new 2015 closing high.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 88.68 points, or 0.5%, to 18,038.27 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10.67 points, or 0.5%, to 2107.96. The S&P 500 is now about 10 points away from its record closing high of 2117.39.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 21.07 points, or 0.4%, to 5035.17. The tech-heavy index set a new closing high for the year and is moving in on its all-time closing high of 5048.62, set 15 long years ago.
Dow icons McDonald's and Coca-Cola helped boost the blue-chip index higher as shares of MCD jumped 3.1% and KO rose 1.3% on the companies' earnings reports. So is fellow Dow member Visa, with V up more than 4% on news that China is opening its bank processing market to foreign providers.
But Dow stalwart Boeing with shares of BA off 1.4% on its earnings news, helped prevent an outright takeoff for the index.
In economic new: Existing home sales in March leaped to their fastest pace in 18 months, making a well-timed upturn at the start of the peak spring buying season.
Sales rose 6.1% -- the largest increase since December 2010 -- to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
Among earnings news:
■ Angie's List reported $4.4 million in net income for the three-month period that ended March 31, a turnaround from the $3.8 million loss the company reported for the same period last year. Shares of ANGI surged 4.9%.
■ McDonald's new CEO Steve Easterbrook shocked analysts and investors by announcing that he would reveal the first steps of a turnaround plan for the struggling fast-food chain in just 10 days. Revenue for the quarter was $5.96 billion — which fell short of Wall Street expectations, at $6.02 billion.
■ Profit at Coca-Cola came in at 48 cents a share, which beat analysts' estimates of 42 cents.
■ Boeing flew past analyst estimates in the first quarter with earnings per share of $1.97. But, "Revenues were a bit weaker than we expected," wrote Jim Corridore of S&P Capital IQ in an investors' note.
Asian stocks ended higher Wednesday after Japan reported its first trade surplus in nearly three years in March, thanks to falling import costs from cheaper oil prices, along with a modest recovery in exports.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1% to close at 20,133.90 -- the first time it closed above the 20,000-level in 15 years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite surged 2.4%.
European shares ended mostly lower Wednesday. Among the hardest-hit benchmarks was Germany's DAX, off 0.6%.
Contributing: Bruce Horovitz, Kevin McCoy, Charisse Jones, Gary Strauss.