(Updates with IBM, eBay after the bell and latest Nasdaq
volume)
By Kristina Cooke
NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks vaulted higher
on Wednesday after Intel Corp <INTC.O>, JPMorgan Chase & Co
<JPM.N> and other blue chips reported earnings that reassured
investors worried that a weak economy would sap corporate
profits.
All three major indexes ended up more than 2 percent.
Solid results from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N>
heartened investors who had been counting on the big banks to
fare better than rivals in coping with the turmoil in the
housing and credit markets. For details, see [].
Technology stocks also had a strong day after Intel, the
world's largest chip maker and a Dow component, affirmed its
profit-margin target for 2008, soothing concerns about falling
chip prices and a pullback in spending by businesses and
consumers.
The encouraging earnings news overshadowed some negative
comments from the Federal Reserve on regional economic
conditions and data that showed home building sank to a
17-year low.
"Tech has been under pressure this year, so the Intel
numbers were encouraging. And JPMorgan and Wells Fargo's
results gave investors the feeling that perhaps we are at
least past the halfway point of the financial problems," said
Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, in
Hinsdale, Illinois.
The three major U.S. stock indexes had their best day
since April 1. And stocks looked set for a robust start on
Thursday, as another technology bellwether and Dow component
International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> posted
stronger-than-expected results after the bell.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> jumped 256.80
points, or 2.08 percent, to close at 12,619.27, while the
Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 30.28 points, or 2.27
percent, to 1,364.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index <>
surged 64.07 points, or 2.80 percent, to close at 2,350.11.
In trading after the bell, IBM's shares initially jumped
3.5 percent.
Also in after-hours trade, eBay Inc's <EBAY.O> shares rose
0.6 percent after the online auctioneer reported a profit that
topped Wall Street's estimates.
In the regular session, shares of JPMorgan shot up 6.7
percent to end at $44.96 on the New York Stock Exchange and
ranked among the stocks giving the biggest boost to both the
Dow and the S&P 500.
Wells Fargo's stock climbed 4.3 percent to $29.01 after
the No. 5 U.S. bank reported a narrower-than-expected decline
in profit as solid revenue gains and lower expenses helped
offset an increase in bad loans.
An S&P index of financial shares <.GSPF> rose 3.3
percent.
Intel contributed the most to the S&P's advance, while it
ranked second among the top-weighted stocks lifting the Nasdaq
100 <>. Intel's stock climbed 5.8 percent to $22.13 on the
Nasdaq.
An index of semiconductor stocks <.SOXX> gained 5.5
percent.
During the regular session, IBM's stock rose 2.8 percent
to $120.47 on the NYSE and ranked among the Dow's top-weighted
advancers ahead of the company's earnings. In electronic
trading after the bell, IBM's stock climbed to $124.31.
On Nasdaq, shares of eBay closed at $32.12, up 1.7 percent
before the release of its quarterly results. After the bell,
eBay extended gains to $32.32.
Energy shares also gave a boost to the S&P 500 as the
price of oil rose to an intraday record of $115.07 per barrel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the May crude oil
contract also settled at a record $114.93 a barrel, up $1.14,
or 1 percent.
The S&P index of energy shares <.GSPE> was up 2.7 percent.
Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> shares gained 2.3 percent to $92.89 and
ranked among the top-weighted advancers in the S&P 500.
Coca-Cola <KO.N> shares edged up 0.3 percent to $61.15
after its results topped estimates due to strong international
sales.
But most of the news on the economy was downbeat. The
Federal Reserve said economic conditions were weakening across
much of the United States while price pressures from food,
fuel and raw materials were increasing.
And the Commerce Department said housing starts dropped
11.9 percent in March to an annual rate of 947,000 units, the
slowest pace since March 1991 and well below economists'
expectations.
Nevertheless, the government said the overall Consumer
Price Index for March rose 0.3 percent, which was less than
economists had forecast, leaving policy-makers room to cut
benchmark interest rates further to ward off the housing-led
slowdown.
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, with
about 1.44 billion shares changing hands, falling short of
last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion,
while on Nasdaq, about 2.15 billion shares traded, also below
last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of
about 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1 on Nasdaq.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
